My Father Saved My Life

The film draws on José Giovanni’s own life. A character named Manu stands in for him. Manu fought with the French Resistance during the war. Toward the end of it he fell into crime. In 1947 he was caught after a robbery. A man died during that robbery. Manu was not the one who pulled the trigger. But he will not say who did. Saying it would give up his uncle. The uncle is one of the few in the family still standing by him. His brother is dead. He had parted from his father Joe years earlier. The court sentences Manu to death. The young man says he is innocent. His attempts to escape convince nobody. The father sets out to save his son. Bruno Cremer and Vincent Lecœur appear in the one hundred fifteen minute film, a French production José Giovanni finished in 2001.