When it comes to wartime atrocities committed against civilians, burying that memory shouldn't be a historical option. Yet so many incidents have slipped through the net — either through deliberate political cover-ups or perhaps through a collective wish to part from the heavy burden of remembered pain.
"The Round Up" is an account of the little-known, little-reported mass round up of Jews in Paris on July 16, 1942. On this day at 4 a.m., more than 13,000 Parisian Jews were "arrested" under orders from the Nazi's and herded into the Velodrome d'Hiver (the winter cycling stadium) where they were left for five days without food or water, then carted off to camps in Vichy and Berghof to be executed. Journalist turned filmmaker Rose Bosch dug up the evidence of what transpired on that day and turned it into a film that's less enraged than totally harrowing to witness.
The immediacy of the story and performances give the film a documentary feel — and according to the production notes Melanie Laurent ("Inglourious Basterds") who plays a Red Cross nurse, was so affected by the experience of making the film that she lost 8 kg in three weeks and was temporarily incapacitated with a stress-induced rash. Others in the cast reported insomnia, depression and ulcers. Subsequently everyone looks drawn and underweight — reminiscent of photos taken of people under wartime strain. Clearly, Bosch aimed for authenticity and got it — everything about the film speaks of a deep wish to get things right and set the record straight.