I would characterize this movie as a French Schindler's List. it corrects the record on a disgraceful series of events that took place in occupied France in 1942, leading to the murder of13,000 Jews. It is well balanced, interesting, but also highly emotional. The acting is superb, as is the direction and cinematography. In particular, the child actors did a wonderful job. People could be heard crying in the theater throughout the film.

I had some problems with the ending, but won't go further as I do not want to reveal too much.

I recommend this movie.

In the summer of 1942 more than 12,000 French Jews were delivered to the Nazi. They were locked at the Vélodrome d'Hiver for several days without food or water or sanitation.

It was up to Red Cross nurses, like Annette Monod (Mélanie Laurent), and Dr. Sheinbaum (Jean Reno) to care for the prisoners and mitigate their suffering.

La Rafle is not a film about the deportation of Jews and the horror of the concentration camps with Hitler's Final Solution. This film is powerful testimony to the denaturalization of French Jews, the appalling conditions of the Vel d'Hiv, the lack of resistance of the French police as well as the existence of the French camps.

This powerful and deeply moving film depicts one of the most shocking and shameful episodes of French history. In July 1942 the French police, at the direction of the Nazis, rounded up thousands of Jewish citizens and detained them in appalling conditions in the Paris velodrome for several days. The detainees were then shipped to a camp outside Paris for a period of time before they were subsequently transported to the extermination camps in Poland. This incident was the backdrop for the recent Sarah's Key, which starred Kristen Scott Thomas. But here the subject matter is far more powerful, harrowing and ultimately poignant. There is no doubting the anger and disgust felt by writer/director Rose Bosche at these events. She handles some of the gruesome brutalities and atrocities in an unflinching fashion that heightens their impact on the audience. A note at the start of the film informs us that all the events depicted here actually happened, even the most extreme. The film also occasionally cuts away from the depravities endured by the Jews to shots of a smiling and laughing Hitler (Udo Schenk) enjoying his retreat high in the picturesque German Alps. The events largely unfold from the perspective of eleven-year old Jo Weismann (Hugo Leverdez) who managed to escape from the camp before his family was sent East. Of the 4500 children sent to the camps, none survived, and only 25 adults survived. Jean Reno lends his formidable presence to the role of a sympathetic doctor who worked amongst the prisoners. Melanie Laurent is also deeply affecting as a dutiful nurse who is appalled by what she witnesses and tries to inform the authorities, to little avail. Not to be missed!