La faute à Fidel! (2006) User Reviews

La faute à papa!

[guy-bellinger · 9/10 · 15 December 2006]

Julie Gavras is famous politically committed director Costa-Gavras'daughter and it shows. But be reassured "La faute à Fidel", her first fiction film (coming after a pair of interesting documentaries) isn't a carbon copy of a Costa Gavras movie in any way. It is much more exciting than just that in that it examines thoroughly the pros and the cons of leftist involvement, mainly its negative repercussions on family life.

The plot revolves around little nine-year-old Anna( played to perfection by tense, brooding, occasionally warming to a welcome smile Nina Kervel), whose life is turned upside down when her parents abruptly change from well-to-do upper middle class people to leftist activists, with a feminist inclination concerning the mother. The whole film will describe the difficulties of a little girl who loses all of her privileges out of the blue, how she understandably rebels against such injustice (even rich kids have a cause to defend!) and who very slowly gets to understand her parents' choices, eventually coming to terms with the situation and growing mature (more mature than the standard brat) in the process.

The movie really charmed me from the beginning to the end, ringing true all the time (the early seventies are well captured, whether when it comes to the production values or the depiction of the mentalities of the time). And Julie Gavras knows her subject on the tip of her fingers. Her parents – just like Anna's ones – have always been leftist activists and wasn't her dwelling-place invaded by Chilean "barbudos" while her dad was preparing "Missing"?

The viewers share her empathy for the central character and appreciate her refusal to resort to caricature. Of course Anna's grandparents are "grand bourgeois" but they are not horrible persons. On the other hand, a leftist activist is not perfect by definition. Those ambiguities give depth to the characters and make them believable throughout. And Julie Gavras has a knack for unexpected details enhancing the viewer's interest and involvement in the story. I was particularly amused by such features as Anna adoring her catechism class, the presence of a violently anticommunist Cuban domestic worker (hence the title), the succession of nannies exiled from different countries torn by ideological conflicts, Anna singing "Ay, Carmela!" to protest against her parents quarreling and many others.

All in all, a wonderful initiation movie that augurs well for Julie Gavras' future career.

La faute à Fidel

[elliottbledsoe · 8/10 · 25 March 2007]

this is no ordinary coming-of-age film. this is the transition story of nine-year-old Anna de la mesa (played by Nina kervel-bey) who's life changes forever when her parents begin an ideological sea-change. her Spanish-born lawyer father Fernando (stefano accorsi) is inspired by his family's opposition to Franco (you later learn he is from a rich catholic royalist family and that his uncle is fighting in Spain) and allende's victory in Chile, to quit his job and become a liaison in France for Chilean activists. her mother, a Marie Clare journalist turned writer documenting the stories of women's abortion ordeals, supports her husband and climbs aboard the ideological bandwagon. as a result Anna's french bourgeois life is over. she must adjust to refugee nannies, international cuisine and a cramped apartment fully of noisy revolutionaries.

the film is filled with a dizzying array of philosophy and ideology - everything from communism, to Catholicism to Greek and Asian mythology - which Anna must reconstruct from confusion to her own set of beliefs. as she negotiates her way through this ideological maze until ultimate internalization of her parents' admirable (all be it ad hocly administered) objectives we are exposed to a witty analysis of stereotyping, misinformation, the potential hypocrisies of ideologies and the potential false-hopes of idealism.

for example Anna's mother makes a comment that she can get the kind of issues-political writing she is turning her repertoire to published in Marie Clare, but later throws out a copy of the magazine when her article isn't published, proving that just because you want to save the world doesn't mean Marie Clare does.

an example of stereotyping and misinformation around beliefs is the number of reds under the beds comments and Anna's grandmother's comment that the commies want to take all of Anna's toys. she also says that all radicals have beards, which, when repeated later by Anna, is met with an inquiry as to whether Santa clause is a radical by her kid-brother Francois (played by Benjamin feuillet).

another witty example at one point her parents take her to a rally to demonstrate solidarity, but later in the film, when 'exercising solidarity' with her classmates who all believe Rome to have existed before Greece despite her knowing better, she learns that solidarity and being a sheep are two different things. but when her dad tells her that is being a sheep, she asks how he knows that what he is doing is solidarity, not just being a sheep.

i really like the film's human side. the film is constantly filled with usual family goings-on – mother-daughter tiffs, routines, sharing meals – which illustrates that these militants are real people, with families and commitments. Francois is as real a little boy – will all the bounce and energy and impulsiveness – as any other which makes his character totally believable.

the first-time director Julie gavras is the daughter of militant filmmaker Costa gavras, peppering the film with a sense of lived history. added to how delightfully self-aware the film is, la faute à Fidel is a smart film that takes on the role of exposing the ways in which children may be victimized by the ideas of their parents, even when those ideas are well- meaning and progressive.

...as seen through the eyes of a child

[Buddy-51 · 8/10 · 28 November 2008]

Set in the politically turbulent Paris of the1970s, "Blame it on Fidel" tells of a sheltered young girl who has her comfortable bourgeois existence ripped away from her after her staid, conformist parents (Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi) suddenly become born again leftist radicals. Anna is forced to give up the home she loves and the nanny she adores when her father quits his job in order to dedicate himself full time to fighting for the proletariat against the repressive corporate powers of the world. The family moves from their spacious home in the country to a cramped apartment in the city, which is often filled with bearded revolutionaries who utter strange catch-phrases in barely audible whispers.

Thanks to a thoughtful script and sensitive direction, "Blame it on Fidel" manages to provide a compelling child's-eye view of the adult world. Incapable of grasping the "big picture" as her parents see it, Anna knows only that the family is now woefully short on cash (she runs around the house flipping off light switches and heaters to save electricity), and that her mother and father are so preoccupied with their "cause" that Anna and her little brother (the adorable, scene-stealing Benjamin Feuillet) seem to have been relegated to mere afterthoughts in their parents' tremendously busy lives. In a performance rich in insight and wisdom and utterly un-self-conscious in tone, nine-year-old Nina Kervel-Bey brings to life a character who often doesn't fully understand what's going on in the world around her but who never gives up trying to figure it all out. For a good part of the time, Anna is torn between childish curiosity and an indefinable sense of shame regarding her parents' newfound activities. Yet, through keen observation and endless questioning, and the eventual piecing together of the many unfiltered fragments that come floating her way, Anne is finally able to come to some kind of understanding, however imperfect, of the much larger world community of which she is only a very small but crucial part.

Despite the inherently ideological nature of the material, writer/director Julie Gavras, the daughter of famed filmmaker Costa-Gavras, keeps most of the political stuff in the background while she concentrates on the strain the grownups feel as they strive to juggle their save-the-world activities with their duties as parents.

Add to this some excellent performances by a talented cast and a rich, flavorful score by Armand Amar and "Blame it on Fidel" becomes a film well worth checking out. In this her second venture as a director, Ms. Gavras has done her old man proud.

Family story shows that young kids do think

[Chris Knipp · 8/10 · 15 February 2007]

"In any given festival," A.O. Scott of the NYTimes writes today from Berlin, "there is usually at least one movie that chronicles a time of political trauma from the point of view of a child." He goes on to say that at the Berlinale he's just seen one set in 1970 by Brazilian Cao Hamburger that "fits the bill nicely. In addition to politics and soccer, it has gentle sentiment, the stirrings of youthful sexuality and a grouchy, warmhearted old man." Blame It on Fidel (based on an Italian novel, Tutta colpa di Fidel, by Domitilla Calamai) is also about 1970-71 and deals with political events from a child's viewpoint, but the rest of its ingredients are different. The emphasis is far more on the child's intellectual development than on "political trauma." Gavras' film revolves around nine-year-old Anna (Nina Kervel) and her well-off bourgeois family living in France. Her father Fernando de la Mesa (Stefano Accorsi) is Spanish (from a rich Catholic royalist family, she learns later), and Fernando and wife Marie (Julie Depardieu), opposed to Franco, who Fernando's uncle is fighting in Spain, get excited about Allende's victory in Chile and woman's right to choose and things like that and decide to change their way of living. They leave their big house and move to a small apartment so Fernando can go to Chile and then "think." Marie keeps on doing articles for Marie-Claire to provide funds, but starts a documentary study on women and childbirth. Anna has to give up her nanny and she and her little brother François (Benjamin Feuillet) are minded by political refugees, first one from Greece, then one from Vietnam. At the insistence of Fernando, who's become liaison in France for Chilean activists, Anna is taken out of Divinity class at her private Catholic school.

Though there are lots of meetings in the little apartment now, the violent upheavals in society, even in Chile, only touch the family from afar, but what's fun and fresh about this appealing early-stages coming-of-age comedy is that Anna engages tooth and nail with the ideas her parents are indirectly imposing on her -- the importance of group action; the injustice of a market economy, etc. She thoroughly enjoyed the perks and rituals of a comfortable bourgeois life and Divinity was one of her best subjects. She thought her conservative grandparents (her mother's parents, heirs to a Bordeaux vineyard) had their own worthwhile ways of doing good. (And they did, but they didn't disturb the existing social order as Fernando's Chilean activist friends want to do.) At first, amusingly, the feisty, impulsive little François is better at adjusting to the changes, to sleeping in the same bedroom and eating exotic food prepared by their new nannies. In the end though, Anna has come to terms with the principle of change, and it's she who insists on being transferred to a secular school that's multicultural and free-wheeling, and she's happily joining in the play there at recess time as the film ends.

Former documentary filmmaker Gavras probably inherited her political awareness through her father, the Costa-Gavras of Z and State of Siege, but she's expressed a woman's point of view toward politics by choosing a subject that deals with their effect on a family. The film is bright and entertaining and has some good laughs. But it deserves extra credit for having a good head on its shoulders at all times. Rather than showing political events from a child's passive point of view, Blame It on Fidel deals with how children may be victimized by the ideas of their parents, even when those ideas are well-meaning and progressive. The film comes up with the startling revelation that a nine-year-old can seriously engage with issues like abortion and capitalism vs. communism.

To be shown in the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center March 7 and 10, March 4 and 6 at the IFO Center. Gaumont, opened in Paris November 29, 2006. No US distributor.

Political Upheavals from a Child's Vantage

[gradyharp · 10/10 · 7 November 2007]

BLAME IT ON FIDEL! ('La Faute à Fidel!) is an enlightening film from France's fine director Julie Gavras, a story based on the novel 'Tutta colpa di Fidel' by Domitilla Calamai that addresses the effect of major political, philosophical, and activist effects on children. What makes this fine film unique is the child's stance on the adult politics: what may seem like exciting challenges for change of an existing corrupt system for the adults may indeed be an unwanted rearrangement of the wants and needs of children whose political acumen is less advanced than the need for order and consistency in everyday life.

The story takes place in Paris in 1970 - 1971. 9-year-old Anna de la Mesa (Nina Kervel-Bey) is a bright child who loves the divinity aspects of her Catholic school and enjoys the wealthy bourgeois elegance that surrounds her. She and her little brother François (Benjamin Feuillet) are informed that their aunt, an anti-Franco activist from Spain, will be moving in with Anna and her parents Fernando (Stefano Accorsi) and Marie (Julie Depardieu). This critical move incites a change in philosophy for Anna's parents and soon they become enchanted with the rise of Allende in Chile and embrace the Socialist mindset and the promised feminist movement changes, moving from their elegant house into a small apartment and demanding that Anna give up her divinity studies 'because the are against Communist thought'. As liaison in France for Chilean activists, Fernando holds strange and frequent meetings, disturbing further the life Anna loves. While little François is able to go along with the life changes, Anna rebels and refuses to alter her goals and needs merely for the 'fad' of her father's frequent trips to Chile while leaving behind her mother to continue writing articles for the ('bourgeois') French magazine Marie-Claire! As the political upheavals increase Anna is more pugnacious in demanding her rights and the finest moments of the story demonstrate how a child can respond to political change and still find her 'place' in the world that she chooses! The pacing of the film is fast and captures the exhilaration of the foment 'round the world in the early 1970s. The cast is excellent, especially the children who have not had prior exposure to acting. The message is a potent one that deserves our attention both as informative of a political era and as a piece of veritas cinema from a fine director and crew. In French and Spanish with English subtitles. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

beautifully captures the view from childhood

[cherold · 7/10 · 13 January 2009]

What impressed me most about this film was how you always know what Anna is feeling. This is partly because of the wonderfully expressive actress playing the part, and partly because it is easy to recall how we felt about things as children and recognize how we would react to the clearly drawn situations of the film. It is also remarkable because while most French movies let you know what characters think simply by having them talk endlessly, Anna keeps her words short and to the point and the adults around her never seem to explain things as much as they ought to.

It is interesting to see how people here respond to the film. One review described it as a movie about adults balancing child raising with world saving, which is certainly a part of the film but to me wouldn't seem to be the focus. Someone else saw the film as an example of how activists can be bad parents.

But really, this film is so focused on Anna that I tended to feel whatever she was feeling, and as her feelings and understand evolved during the film, mind did as well. The movie feels very balanced, showing everyone's strengths and weaknesses, kindnesses and cruelties, honor and stupidity, and it feels very authentic; I don't know if this is fiction, a memoir or somewhere in between, but it feels very realistic and believable.

This is a quiet, thoughtful movie and it took me a while to get into it, perhaps simply because I approach French movies with a certain amount of suspicion, which is why I gave it a 7 instead of an 8. I became more and more drawn in as I watched, and found the final scenes especially touching. It's a lovely little film.

Awasome film

[josemanuelsalgado · 10/10 · 8 November 2008]

Hard social facts are faced from the perspective of a little and very smart and inquiring child, although there's no violent scene on the movie the political tension is well expressed by the parents and friends, to the very confussion of the girl.. i don't remember her name, but her performance is outstanding, its very interesting how she interchange her wasys from childish feelings and behavour to thoughtful and even worried attitudes, being all the time very credible, the picture has a sad background, but the bright of the girl as the protagonist gives the element of hope, being the picture not sad but quite interesting and rich, with a lot of joyful funny moments. I really recommend this great movie.

Put the blame on Fidel!

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 8 July 2009]

The family of Anna DelaMesa come from bourgeois backgrounds. It is then, surprising, the path both decided to follow politically. The father, Fernando, a Spaniard, had lived in France as an exile for many years, never returning to visit his own family in Spain. The mother, Marie, is the daughter of wealthy parents who live in some splendor in a rural part of France.

When we first see them, they are celebrating the wedding of Isabelle. Fernando, a brooding man, has recently been joined by his sister Marga and her own kid, Pilar, something they did to avoid being taken into custody by the Franco regime. Marie and Fernando agree in letting them stay with them for a while, something that Anna doesn't appreciate since her cousin only speaks Spanish.

Anna, who attends a catholic school in Paris, taught by nuns, sees the world around her from a grown up point of view. She can't say much about what she perceives, yet a lot of things affect her. Take her parents' involvement with the leftist Chilean regime of Salvador Allende. Fernando and Marie have been instrumental in his election, having even left the children behind in France to work for the cause. Anna, is a highly sensitive girl whose life is deeply affected by the way her parents act toward her and Francois, her younger brother. To make matters worse, Anna is told to stay away from religion classes at her school. She becomes the center of attraction as the other girls can't grasp why is Anna different, something that she tries to cope with, but to her young mind, is never solved.

Julie Gavras, the daughter of famous director Costa Gavras, tried her hand at directing before. This is her second try behind the camera. We have not read the novel which served as the basis of the film, which is misleading, since one expects to refer to a Cuban situation, when in reality, the DelaMesas work to help the regime of Chile's former president Allende.

Ms. Gavras must be congratulated for the work she got from child actress Nina Kervel-Bey, a girl of maybe seven years who does an amazing performance, and through whom all the action revolves. Others in the film, Stefano Accorsi, who has been working in France lately, plays the father of Anna. Also notable, Julie Depardieu, daughter of Gerard and Elisabeth, in the role of Marie.

Although the film is based on an Italian novel, one wonders how much is autobiographical, given Ms. Gavra's own background. Maybe she was meant to be the right person to bring the story to the screen.

Cute and vital growing up story from a little girl's POV

[DennisLittrell · 9/10 · 19 December 2007]

This debut film by Julie Gavras, daughter of famed Greek-born director Costa-Gavras (e.g., Z, 1969), was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. In addition to directing, Julie Gavras also collaborated with Arnaud Cathrine on the script which they adapted from a novel by Italian novelist Domitilla Calamai. What is striking about the story is the way it reconstructs how girls become social, how they learn about their world, how they question it, and how they reconcile the contradictions, and how they grow up.

Doing the growing up is nine-year-old Anna de la Mesa, played with fidelity, wit, and skill beyond her years by Nina Kervel-Bey. She is bourgeois to the core, following the lead of her maternal grandparents, who own a vineyard in Bordeaux, and her favorite nanny and housekeeper who lost everything to the Communists when Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba. Her parents, however, are infatuated with the Left, especially with the rise of Allende to power in Chile. The year is 1970-71.

Anna loves their house and garden and going to Catholic school. She is proper and sensible. When they lose their house, and have to let the nanny go, and end up renting an apartment in Paris, Anna is upset and demands to know why things have changed. When it appears that they don't have as much money, Anna begins turning off the lights and turning down the heat to save money. When they want her to transfer to the public school, she demurs and a compromise is made: she can continue to go to Catholic school but she is not allowed to take Bible studies. So when that time of the day comes, she has to stand up and go outside the classroom door and wait.

But Anna is strong emotionally and intellectually. She questions everything and is not self-conscious about being singled out. The other girls may laugh, but when she gets into a fight with one of them, she manages to win her over afterwards so that they are friends, even though their parents are not.

There is in the background the political disputes between the Right and the Left, between parents who change the subject when the question how babies are made is brought up, and those who tell the truth, in short between the bourgeois and the bohemian. One gets the sense that Gavras and Anna are wiser than the disputants, and that there is something to appreciate in both ways of life.

It is impossible not to identify with little Anna, partially because she herself is so fair, and partially because it is such a thrill to see the psychology of the socialization process displayed so well and true in a movie, but also because Nina Kervel-Bey is such a powerful little actress who was so wondrously directed by Julie Gavras. This is one of the best performances by a preteen actor that I have ever seen. Kervel-Bey simply dominates the film and commands the screen.

Will Anna shed her petite bourgeois ways and embrace the politics of her parents? I highly recommend that you see this film and find out.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Cute... mostly honest

[JoshuaDysart · 6/10 · 10 November 2010]

As Anna goes, so goes France! Or something...

A nine year old girl weathers her affluent family's shift toward leftest politics along with the rest of 1970's French youth culture. Little Anna's fear of change manifests in her traditional attitudes towards religion and social class.

Costa Gavras' daughter makes her directorial feature film debut. It's a nice flick. Sometimes honest, sometimes hokey and obvious. It does come dangerously close to equating conservatism with childishness and liberalism with emotional maturity, which even for a leftest like me comes off a little trite. But through it all Nina Kervel-Bey, who plays Anna, is amazing as the (mostly) conservative child in a Allende supporting anti-Franco family. As a scowling little brat, she's aces, but she has real range too.

And her little brother has to be one of the most entertaining young kids I've seen put on film in a while. Worth watching.

A wonderful family drama with a political edge.

[luke-346 · 8/10 · 1 March 2008]

La Faute à Fidel centers on the life of an indulged nine year old girl, called Anna (Nina Kervel), and her adverse descent from the luxuries of a bourgeois life to the cramped, destitute conditions of her parents new found belief. Situated mostly in Paris during the early 1970s and among the aftermath of the collapse of the De Gaulle government, the film tells of a change of prosperity that occurs after the death of her father's, (Fernando; Stefano Accorsi), brother-in-law. The death compels Anna's parents to readdress their political complacency causing Fernando to become part of the active opposition to Francisco Franco (of Spain) and Salvador Allende (of Chile). Consequently Anna's life is transformed and this is demonstrated through her constant bewilderment, intellectual expansion and amusing misinterpretations.

During the film the family's new apartment slowly grows hectic due to an encroachment of the "barbudos" (bearded men; or Chilean Activists) and as most of the story takes place there, the director (Julie Gavras), is able to create a feeling of invasion in Anna's life. This is played-out in a scene when the young Anna awakes to find her home swarming with "barbudos" and no parents. The camera here, and for most of the film, is at Anna's height. At this point the audience is aware of Anna's worry and concern. Gavras superbly complements this with her camera-work, as a lot of the shots are orientated around Anna. The shot reverse shots are either pointing down at Anna or up at an adult, the framing of her achieves narrative centrality and the film is littered with child like symbols (most notably the frequent shots of her sandals; perhaps an invitation for the audience to place themselves in Anna's shoes).

Through the eyes of a nine year old child the film manages to show us the problems, difficulties and effects that extreme political transformation can have on a family. Not only are the parents going through a period of enlightenment but so is Anna as she is bombarded with an array of terms and ideologies, including communism, activism, capitalism, Catholicism, conservatism, mythology and abortion all of which she tries make sense of. Despite this Anna is treated like an equal when among her parents and the "barbudos", because they make the effort to explain and reason to her the things she doesn't understand. The manner in which these adults talk with Anna is short-lived, because as soon as she dons a uniform and becomes part of the strict and religious system (that is her school) she is no longer that free-thinking individual. She is unable to question the system once she is a part of it; this supported by emphasized further when she questions her teacher over a story involving the dilemmas facing a goat.

The fact that the adults endeavor to relate to Anna on their level demonstrates a liberal upbringing and the understanding of children as equals. This is seen through her mother's (Marie; Julie Depardieu) explanation of abortion, her discussion on Dad's "dickie" and the Chilean activists attempt to discuss their ideologies with Anna. Furthermore, the family's abandonment of "Sundaying" is a metaphor for them resisting social constraints and re-appropriating them by, as Anna's brother points out, "Sundaying" on a Wednesday. This is interesting because it serves as visual allegory for rebellion as it's in direct contrast with the notorious aspects of Franco's fascist regime and his renowned focus on traditional values. This notion is furthered by Anna leaving the confinements of her school, dropping her uniform, mixing with another gender/race and being embraced; this sequence of events is her liberalisation.

As the title suggests, it is packed with political and literal metaphors and through centering on a child the film keeps itself amusing and fresh. But, ultimately and at its heart, the film is a fine family drama that utilises the backdrop of political angst and cultural change to help tell its story.

Blame it on the glum interiors

[tim-764-291856 · 7/10 · 14 December 2010]

I'm not going to pretend that I'm interested particularly in the politics of the period in question, nor the period itself, for that matter.

We're talking about the '70's and communist ideals, namely supporting another country, or regime by proxy. In this case, to make up for perceived neglected family duties - the father who's Spanish, with his French wife and three young children in Paris. Meetings, with an array of strangers forever coming and going are seen through the eyes of the preciously gifted and inquisitive 9 y.o. and which propels this film.

Her (Nina Kerval) questioning starts out as seeking explanations as to the family's downward change in social status, where she's picked on at school for having weird parents, who eat weird food and have strange friends. As with any precocious child, questions follow the answers, the parents often not sure of the answers themselves let alone what to tell the children, as ideals in theory are often more difficult in practice.

It's this mix of naivety, self exploration and quest for human knowledge that raises this film above an ordinary one. How, we all as kids would counteract a mistake made by a parent, often by contradiction and how we'd exaggerate it enormously. It was our way of showing how smart we were and how wrong and fallible, and lovable they were by being wrong. Usually Anna (the girl) gets it wrong, in both context and intent; not hilariously so but with a knowing amusement we observe Kerval's subtle but wide range of expressions. We are indeed looking at a great actress in the making.

Other than that, I found the film quite claustrophobic with the glum interiors of 70's - stale browns and oranges and mostly glum characters dressed similarly and not having a great time. It revealed little historically. Maybe parents could view it as a study as to how to juggle family needs with maintaining a political (or other) ideal and the obvious sacrifices that ultimately entails.

blatant leftist political propaganda

[jjj-murphy · 1/10 · 10 April 2012]

A wonderful performance from child actress Nina Kervel-Bey cannot redeem this movie's cinematic sin of purveying blatant leftist propaganda. Don't think I've seen so shameless a piece of polemic since casting a curious eye over Leni Riefenstahl's Hitlerite 'Triumph of the will' when I was at film school myself! Incredible that leftists can get away with this kind of pap without provoking the slightest protest from the brain-dead MSM. Predictably, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a high rating, generally seeing it as a charming French comedy of manners, etc, etc. It is nothing of the kind. On the contrary, it runs like a Maoist 'short' showing proto-proletarian little Anna's progress from snotty rich kid to caring-sharing Communist wunderkind. You know the sort of thing: Little Anna (Nina K-B) starts off as a spoiled little brat non-plussed by her parents' sudden lurch into radical chic leftism. They abandon their capitalist jobs and transform into selfless Che Guevara types taking her on demo's in Paris, etc. Gradually little Nina sees the error of her ways and gives up Divinity class at school and her posh friends for a cosy rose-tinted world of brother and sisterly love at the local compo... Ring a ring a roses we all vote socialist. Atishoo! Atishoo! The Capitalists all fall down! Disgusting abuse of the principle of cinema. By all means watch it for Nina K-B's performance, but bring some perfumed smelling salts both to wake yourself up from the toxic dose of Marxism and douse the stink of leftist sanctimony. You have been warned...

Great, it is.

[cimicib · 9/10 · 18 October 2008]

Wonderful movie that clears out your mind and leaves you purified when feeling so dirty. Wonderful little girl! Wonderful little boy! So amazed by how they are that I don't feel like saying more on the movie in general. Anna de la Mesa is so real. All that phases she goes through and all the complication of her mind are beautifully harmonized with the politics. It's not a story of a changing family (life); it's rather the display of a huge load on the shoulders of a little girl. It's worth it; watch it.

(By the way just because I watched the two in a row; I must say that "La Faute à Fidel" is much more effective than "Persepolis" in order of viewing the world from a growing child's point-of-view. Good directing there by Julie Gavras.)

Children & Grown Ups

[dsseu · 8/10 · 4 January 2009]

If you remember being a child confused about the 'grown ups' around you, then this film is worth watching. I thought it was going to be a heavy dark film - and it might be on one level - but it's not at all on the other, mainly because it is about seeing the ('grown up') world from a child's point of view. It reminded me a bit of Pan's Labyrinth in that way, i.e. the way there is an 'adults world' and a 'child's world', although Pan's Labyrinth focuses more on childhood escapism, but 'Blame in Fidel' is more about childhood realism. That is to say this film focuses, in a really lovely accurate way, on a child struggling to understand the real world around them, especially when the adults around her don't tell her the full story. There is no fantasy here. It's all very real. Anna clearly wants to understand what's going on. She hears snippets of conversations and tries to put it all together, sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly. Definitely worth a watch!

good for you, like broccoli

[roedyg · 7/10 · 2 July 2012]

This movie is subtle, well made and undoubtedly good for your soul, like broccoli. However, like broccoli, it can be a bit too bland and boring. You get to watch a child's life through the child's eyes. Her trials are not major and she handles them without major drama. The lead is a child actress Nina Kervel-Bey. Her part is quite unusual. She is not adorable or endearing. She is not a brat. She is not a ninny. She is not a waif. She is intelligent, but not freakily precocious. She is admirably stubborn and independent. Just as in real life, the adults don't notice how aware she is of all that is going on and talk down to her. She listens in all the time on adult conversations. I recall as a preschooler sitting on the floor while adults had conversations that I was sure they did not want me to hear. As long as I did not move, it seemed for them I did not exist or that they presumed I was incapable of understanding what they were saying. Films and books nearly always underestimate children. It is as if the authors can't remember what it was like, and go for a Disneyfied haze over the lens making children into happy idiots. This movie does not make that error. Steffano Accorsi plays the father. He was also in one of my favourite movies of all time My Secret Life/Ignorant Fairies where he plays a similar warm gentle character.

A child learns to think

[lastliberal · 8/10 · 13 May 2008]

This is an exciting film from Julie Gavras, the daughter of Oscar winning writer/director Costa-Gavras (Missing, Z). The effect of a rise in consciousness on the part of Anna's (Nina Kervel-Bey) parents, played by Julie Depardieu and Stefano Accorsi on the family is examined with humor.

Giving up her comfortable bourgeois life so her parents could fight for social justice against fascists like Franco was a real adjustment for Anna. It didn't help that her nanny filled her head with nonsense, but her sacking solved that problem.

It was a beautiful tale of a girl growing up to think, and to think about someone other than herself. She learned about solidarity and freedom and the pain of escaping one's past.

This little girl has a real future in film.

Growing up radical

[paul2001sw-1 · 6/10 · 16 March 2011]

In this movie, a young girl's parents start moving in radical circles; and as this means giving up some of her privileges, she doesn't like it. But she's a natural free-thinker (though not yet a rebel), which causes her to question authority on both sides of the political divide. There are some nice observations, but the overall film didn't quite work for me: for example, it ends with the death of Salvador Allende and his last, heroic speech, a story that is great and terrible, but it's hard to believe it would be defining for the character. There are small things to enjoy here, but the film never altogether moves beyond its basic premise.

Good movie, well-balanced, on a dark period for many Western countries, including Brazil. The scars will never heal.

[phi-rudge · 9/10 · 3 January 2008]

A child's point of view is a nice way of seeing ugly and distant political and social facts. Julie Gravas updates the style of her father for a new age, treating austerely political repression and social innovation which served the interest of many at the cost of harming most. Those who lived in those modern dark ages, in countries like Brazil, Chile , Argentina, Uruguai, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and several others, which are now democracies, will have a new look through the eyes (with a biographical touch) a lovely young girl and her little brother. Sometimes funny, other times dramatic, even tragic, but throughout well-conducted and subtly inspired. Not to be missed.

Blame It On Julie Gavras

[robert-642 · 12 June 2008]

Yes, blame it on Julie Gavras for making one of the most boring and clichéd films ever to concern childhood.

I can't believe how excited I was in looking forward to seeing this film. As it turns out, I was bitterly disappointed. I'll save you the nonsense essays about the 1960's and revolutions. In this contrived film they have little relevance except to act as a crutch for a film that is teetering on disaster.

As for the so called little girl - Nina Kervel-Bey. Do you know of any soulless, miserable children of nine years going on ninety years of age? I don't. Is Gavras really trying to tell us that children become traumatised because of their parent's political changes? What nonsense. Maybe she should visit a few homes where children have really been traumatised by horrid experiences.

Key features missing from this film are warmth, love and compassion. A po faced Kervel-Bey and her entourage just don't deliver. Any humour there is comes from a few glib lines from her father. Moreover most of the 'action' takes place within a claustrophobic interior.

Should Ms Gavras ever venture into making other films with children she would do well to watch "Jeux Interdit" or "Anche Libero Va Bene". And had she watched the exceptional "Together" by Lukas Moodysson she wouldn't have bothered making "Blame It On Fidel".

If nothing else Ms Gavras has performed a minor miracle. She has managed to combine two key French elements into one film. Namely the bourgeoisie and the lumpen proletariat. Maybe that's why it's such a dog's dinner of a film. At least with one or the other genres one knows who is the real enemy.

Zero points because it wasted some of my life when I could have been plucking chickens.

A child's view of political activism

[avital-gc-1 · 8/10 · 21 November 2015]

Julie Gavras, the director, is a power house judging by this film. She wrote the script, based on a novel by Domitilla Calamai, and directed what seems like an honest film with depth. Anna de la Mesa is a young girl, a daughter to wealthy parents and grandparents, whose parents become communists and politically active in the 70's. They move from a large house to a small flat, always full with activists, and all the princess-like reality is shattered. The girl, serious, competitive and intense resists the changes with all her might, but slowly, certain people and certain stories reach her, and she softens. Her little brother is captivating-funny, sweet and smart, and there's a brief moment where you see how she crosses the line to finally seeing him. I loved the little actress. Something else I loved-how the relationships with the parents are not embellished but appear in all their errors, rough edges and tenderness. The director is Costa Gavras's daughter, and the mother is played by Julie Depardieu-Gerard's daughter.

This is for your own good - Really?

[rajdoctor · 7/10 · 8 December 2020]

LA FAULTE A FIDEL means Blame it on Fidel (Castro) The era of late sixties and early seventies saw great upheaval in the world - Black revolution in USA, Israel-Palestine conflict - the Gypsy movement, Liberation movement, The Beatles... and French uprising supporting communism. There are many movies made on that theme, but presenting it from the perspective of a 9 year old child gives a unique perspective to the whole theme and dimension to the way we look at emerging new generation in the context of revolution. A very innocent 9 year old Anna (Nina-Kervel-Bay) is happy-go-lucky, playful, free and curious - living with her parents and younger brother when the radical activism bug infects her parents to support communism, liberalism, feminism, protests, rallies, human rights etc. This turns the life of Anna up-side-down and presents to her a world that snatches away her happiness and innocence. There are no easy answers found here, because all of us want to do good and show that we too want to save the world - but the movie stands and presents to us - the gory reminder of what this obsession of saving humanity can do to one's true self and innocence - by just getting lost in going with the flow of events around us. In the end, Anna has lost all her innocence, and missed her childhood. For what? Since 1960-70's nothing much have changed for the betterment of the world - except there is more destruction, exploitation, farce, faking, cheating, mental disorders, blind chase for success... and much more This movie is based on an Italian Novel written by Domitilla Calama and collaboratively made as a French-Italian production Nina Kervel Bay as 9 year old Anna carries the whole movie on her fragile shoulders brilliantly - never missing an emotion - showing despair, anger, anxiety and vulnerability with what is going around her and in the end accepting and imbibing those ideals with much frustration. She rebels against all these but is made to absorb the LIBERATION IDEA forced and thrashed in her mind by BIG TALKERS who want to become SAVIORS. The multi-talented Julie Gavras (Actress, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor, Sound recordist, etc - who has worked in many departments of movie-making)- debuts with this feature film. Julie has taken utmost care in presenting the movie through the child's perspective by keeping the camera much lower, giving us the first hand view of what a child (we were too) see the grown up world. I think what Anna is subjected to as a child - most older people in the world are subjected to the same bombarding of issues and ideas around liberation, freedom, rights etc.. That is where and when humans lose their goodness, innocence and love of being natural and imbibe in them something they are not and are forced to pretend. Just because everyone around us talks of it - we think that is the way to go. This movie opens up little awareness in us of looking at life around us with a different lens and perspective- more as a witness rather than being selfishly clever in going by the flow. In a dialogue the father says to Anna "This is for your own good" and we turn our head in total disagreement. It is a wonderful psychological and political film which shows the faulty lines when a children / adults starts thinking radical and are traumatized by the horrid world we live in. I would go with 7.25 out of 10

Communist Propaganda

[nebula-70794 · 1/10 · 20 May 2021]

They love indoctrinating young minds with their trash ideology, as we're still seeing to this day.

Wonderfully captivating...

[grrwuff · 8/10 · 13 April 2016]

Who needs Hollywood? No political correctness, no censoring, just a portrait of a young family living in the 70'ties France in the aftermath of the '68 revolution. Feeling an obligation to follow up and contribute in the overturn of the dictatorships in Spain and Chile. Gives me personally a perspective on a time, where I, myself being 10-12 years old like Anna, the main character, only sensed the 'strange' music and colorful clothing. So captivating, that I forgot to randomly check my smart phone during the entire movie. As a story told from a child's perspective in a certain period of time, 'Fidel' falls in the same category as El Espiritu de La Colmena (1973) and El Laberinto Del Fauno (2006)