The Children of Chabannes

Some of the Holocaust's most remarkable heroes never fired a shot...

Though SCHINDLER'S LIST was a grim but grand recounting of a remarkable act of heroism in the face of unspeakable evil, we need to be reminded of how there were many stories just like it unfolding simultaneously, and that the smaller, unheralded tales of people responding to the better side of their nature to help others in peril, can engage the mind and touch the heart as profoundly as a thousand Hollywood reenactments.

Gossels and Wetherell have done an astonishing job of preserving the story of the children and their protectors for generations to come, but more importantly, to remind us that even the smallest act of kindness performed, has repercussions into the future that we can't even begin to realize. And what the people of Chabannes did for those children, who became the resilient and remarkable adults we see today in this film, was by no means insignificant, or any less heroic than the exploits of Oskar Schindler for not having been duly recognized, until now.

FOOTNOTE: You can try as you might to remain unaffected by this story, until Chabannes refugee Wolfgang "Wolfie" Blumenreich recounts his desperate ruse to stay alive at Auschwitz, and you realize with a dawning sense of awe and disbelief, that his story provided Spielberg with one of the most haunting images from SCHINDLER'S LIST: of a terrified, rail-thin young boy hiding in the unimaginable muck of a stool pit, to avoid being selected as fodder for the gas chambers.

Gossels has constructed a simple, quiet telling of a profound story. Little kids are whisked into the countryside in the middle of a dangerous war, where no one speaks their language or practices their religion, where their parents can't visit, and probably won't see them again. But in this little village some remarkable people give them love, shelter, food and education, and save their lives. Instead of being exterminated by Hitler's monstrous machine of hate, they are nurtured like little seeds until they can one day live free again, once they have escaped or outlasted the war.

One incident stands out and illustrates the story: At one point, a group of twelve or so boys is taken away from Chabannes and efforts are made to get them back. Most of them survive, but four are murdered in camps. Amongst the magnitude of millions losing their lives, this town grieves for four boys. "It was four boys too many," they say. When that statement was made during the film, thunderbolts went off in my head.

This idea, multiplied thousands of times throughout Europe, was the reason so many were saved while others perished. It is why good shall always triumph over evil: He who saves a single life has saved the world entire.

And it is why, in our efforts to never repeat this tragedy, we also have a plan in case it does: resolve to do whatever we can, even a little, to save one or two lives.

Well documented material supports perfectly the tales of survivors & saviors during WWII in a small rural village of France. The quality of the research and the moving testimonies makes this a very powerful movie. The director succeeded in showing every aspect of the life of the children hidden in the rustic community. It will warm your heart and restore your faith in man.