The Roundup

Starring Jean Reno, this is the harrowing true story from a dark page in France’s history books, when French police rounded up civilian Jews living in Paris, sending thirteen thousand men, women and children to their deaths at Auschwitz.

Joseph is eleven years old. One fine June morning, he must go to school with a yellow star sewn onto his jacket. His friends, Jewish just like him, and their families have taken refuge in occupied Paris in Montmartre. On July 16, 1942, their fragile happiness is shattered. From the Vélodrome D’Hiver, where 13 000 Jews are crammed, to the camp of Beaune-La-Rolande, from Vichy to the terrace of the Berghof, The Round-up follows the destinies of the victims – the characters in the film are based on real people – and their executioners.

Superb casting and moving direction from writer/director Roselyne Bosch capture this shattering depiction of what has become known as the greatest mass-arrest of Jews ever carried out on French soil. –FrenchFilmFestival.org