STRANGE GARDENS
aka EFFROYABLES JARDINS

Year: 2003
UK: Capers Productions Ltd / Matcine
Cast: Jacques Villeret, Andre Dussolier, Thierry Lhermitte, Benoit Magimel, Suzanne Flon, Isabelle Candelier, Bernie Collins, Damien Jouillerot, Victor Garrivier, Nina-Paloma Polly
Director: Jean Becker
Country: France
Language: French (English subtitles)
UK: 97 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains one use of strong language and moderate violence
UK Release Date: 16 April 2004

Synopsis

A father and son's relationship reaches a new level of understanding with the telling of the father's story in occupied France during World War 11. The movie is based on the international best-selling novella of the same name written by Michel Quint and published in the UK by Penguin Books.

The father is captured by the German occupying forces and held in a muddy pit. He and three friends had awaited execution if the identity of a saboteur was not discovered. As the hour of their demise approaches, their guard begins to infuse the situation with a totally unexpected form of levity that somehow banishes the otherwise inevitable pathos of life, death and war. The guard's display of kindness manages to transcend his gruesome uniform, and teaches the prisoners a lesson none of them will ever forget that humour is the ultimate weapon with which to face up to even the worst form of adversity.