Another problem with the film is the way that the Jewish boy, Bonnet, is treated at the school. Not by the other boys, who call him the obvious - ‘Easter Bonnet’ - but by the sometimes stolid priests who run the school. After all, they know he is Jewish, yet do not assimilate him. They refuse him Communion, let him not eat pork, abstain from Catholic vespers, and let him worship in his dormitory at night, instead of in private. Yes, this may have been true in real life, but it gives away the ending too early. Would not the priests have told the boy he needs to conform to avoid death, even if that means some religious compromise on both sides?

Overall, while Au Revoir Les Enfants is a good film, indeed, arguably a very good film, it is too straightforward, one dimensional, and not that daring, to come close to true greatness. Yet, mere excellence in a film that could be more is often more frustrating than watching a piece of garbage, because there are moments when one can say, ‘If the director only did this,’ ‘If the screenwriter only did that,’ etc.

Yes, the film, like almost all Holocaust films, did well at awards time, getting two Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language film and Best original screenplay, it won the Golden Lion award at the 1987 Venice Film Festival, and swept up seven awards at the César Awards (France’s Oscars), including Best Director, Best Film, and Best Writing, among other honors.

But honors do not make up for the ‘could’a, should’a, would’a’ feeling one is left with after a film like this. And, unlike Chinese food, such leftover pangs do not demand a second helping. Thus, Malle’s film is what it is, a good, but not great, meal, served at a restaurant (Holocaust art) that one should only eat at sparingly, so whatever pungency it packs stays on the tongue longer, after its real flavor has faded, and the remembered taste seems all the more delicious.