Directed by Volker Schlöndorff  (German)
Also known as Der Unhold (although it was filmed in English and is based on a French novel)

This movie, starring John Malkovitch, probably won't make much sense to anyone who hasn't read Michel Tournier's brilliant novel, The Earl King (« Le roi des aulnes »), on which it is based. All the elements of the plot are there, but the novel is so rich in philosophical and symbolic resonance, that it couldn't be expected to carry on the screen very well.

Still, German director's attempt is about as good as it could have been. The big bonus is that he makes the film visually beautiful to look at, which perhaps compensates for the oddity of the action.

In a nutshell, it is about a child-loving French mechanic who is falsely accused of having molested a young girl. He is saved from going to prision by the sudden eruption of the war, and is instead sent to the front, where he becomes an expert in training messenger-pigeons. He is then captured by the Germans and, getting special favours from German officers, eventually finds his way to a military-school for boys, where he is responsible for recruiting the hitlerian youth. The last part of the film involves his finding a jewish boy, escaped from a concentration camp, whom he nurses back to health.

All of this sounds very strange, I know, but it is all orchestrated beautifully and makes perfect sense in the novel. In the film, this may all seem far-fetched, but it's worth watching for the visuals.

Features several boys of all ages throughout the film, especially in the later part, at the military school. Some of them are quite beautiful, including a couple of young twins.

I have this movie in VHS and I very liked the play of Caspar SALMON in part of  the young Abel TIFFAUGES, the young actor which play also in part of Morgan in L'élève also in the movie Le voleur d'enfants in 1991 and in the TV série Maria des Eaux-Vives.