Lacombe, Lucien

The story of a thoughtless young man during the occupation of France in World War II, who becomes involved with the Vichy Gestapo, is an exploration of the nature of evil and the possibility of escaping it through love. In his 1974 film Lacombe, Lucien, the versatile French director Louis Malle dealt with the painful issue of wartime collaboration during the German occupation of France. The story takes place in 1944, when Lucien, an aimless and uneducated rural youth played by Pierre Blaise, falls by chance under the influence of the local Fascists, and ends up becoming a member of…