The Round Up (La Rafle.) (2010)

60% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
69% of users liked it
(750 ratings)

Based on meticulous research and told through the story of several Jewish families who find themselves taken unawares by the ferocious turn of events, the film portrays the few weeks in July 1942, when more than 13,000 Parisian Jews, including more than 4000 children, were rounded up and taken to… More Based on meticulous research and told through the story of several Jewish families who find themselves taken unawares by the ferocious turn of events, the film portrays the few weeks in July 1942, when more than 13,000 Parisian Jews, including more than 4000 children, were rounded up and taken to the now notorious Vel' d'Hiv stadium. -- (Revolver Entertainment

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: Roselyne Bosch
Written By: Roselyne Bosch
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Mar 10, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Jul 18, 2011
Studio: Menemsha Films

Critic Reviews

Tom Long, Detroit News
Writer-director Rose Bosch is working in unabashed historical epic mode here, balancing individual stories with grand-scale awfulness effectively. She never swerves for cheap sentiment, she just lays it all out.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
A big, sorrowful, dramatically trite period epic about a bleak chapter in the history of modern France.
Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail
It is a paint-by-numbers Holocaust movie, scrupulously balanced, always cautious, occasionally clichéd, often sentimental.
Linda Cook, KWQC-TV (Iowa)
'La Rafle' was a hit in France, and now you have a chance to see what Europe was raving about last year.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
Horrors of War Revisited in French 'La Rafle'
Tom Meek, Boston Phoenix
Bosch boldly tackles the psyche of Hitler, showing the Führer enjoying the high life with Eva Braun as he instructs his minions...
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
It's a useful primer on this period of French history, but isn't much more than that.
Jason Solomons, Observer [UK]
There is no denying the power of the events, the importance of them now being told in movie form, nor the clear-eyed way that Bosch dramatises previously dry historical facts - in order to leave us misty-eyed.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
Not a piece of history the French like to remember but one, largely because of this film, they now do.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
It's a straightforward, heartfelt drama, well acted and well produced.
Priscilla Eyles, Little White Lies
Stays in the mind for days afterwards and does justice to a difficult story.
Robbie Collin, News of the World
I can't say I'm too comfortable with the hero kid in a holocaust drama (Hugo Leverdez) being a blond-haired, blue-eyed Master-race Child.
Jason Di Rosso, MovieTime, ABC Radio National
A good film, this, that doesn't flinch in its portrayal of brutal history, with a solid cast including Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent.
David Stratton, At the Movies (Australia)
For Bosch this was obviously a story she had to tell; it's a pity she has told it with what at times is a heavy hand.
Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)
An incongruously glossy production design and some ungainly performances from experienced leads such as Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent put a further drain on The Round Up's reserves of goodwill.
Don Groves, sbs.com.au
Histrionics and cliches mar harrowing, true-life WWII saga.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
It is hard not to be enraged and saddened. According to the elder Weiseman (who is seen in the film) Bosch has presented the story faithfully and accurately, and just how it felt
Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY
In her efforts to compel French viewers to confront a very ugly moment in their history, Bosch doesn't leave time to develop her characters or their individual stories beyond the most cursory strokes.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
Bosch does an impressive job of pulling together the stories she and her assistants found while researching the script.

Read all 19 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Pierluigi P

Dull, mediocre. A carnival of clichés.
Panta O

A French war drama directed by Roselyne Bosch was based on the true story of a young Jewish boy and his family and friends who were victims the mass arrest of Jews by French police who were Nazi accomplices in Paris in July 1942. Many people seeing this film were enraged and saddened… More
A French war drama directed by Roselyne Bosch was based on the true story of a young Jewish boy and his family and friends who were victims the mass arrest of Jews by French police who were Nazi accomplices in Paris in July 1942. Many people seeing this film were enraged and saddened because this event has left a huge scar on the collective psyche of the French - on the 75th anniversary the French presidents declared: "There are in the life of a nation times that wound the memory and the idea one has of one's country. It is difficult to talk about such times... That day, France, the cradle of Enlightenment and human rights, a safe haven for the oppressed, committed an unforgivable sin. Breaking its word, it delivered those it should protect to their executioners." Sadly, looking what France is doing in Libya, Afghanistan and around the world it seems there were no lessons learned! According to the elder Weiseman (who is seen in the film) Bosch has presented the story faithfully and accurately - and just how it felt. That is perhaps the most valuable praise she'll get for this drama. Bosch first decided to make a film of the events surrounding the rafle du Vel' d'Hiv because she felt sympathy with the victims - and that is nice to hear. My problem with the movie is the feel of detachment of the director with the story! And it should be completely different - her husband's family is Jewish and lived in Montmartre near where the Weismann family lived, her father had been detained in one of Francisco Franco's internment camps, so she felt a connection with the subject matter... but watching the movie everything seemed too "dry" for my taste! I appreciate the fact that Bosch decided to portray only real life characters in the film but for me there was too much focus on the social context of life for the Jewish family (and others) before the fateful day of July 16, 1942... The morally bankrupt Germans and Marshal Petain's collaborating French authorities are not different from today's governments , starting from the illegalities and amorality and up to the absence of any real transparency of the ruling bureaucracy but somehow they are presented like something out of this world! Turn around and observe... This is not a drama to "like" or not, according to most critics, it's a film to make us understand; but I don't think it does it well.