Jules B: The Story of a Righteous Man

Content : Jules Badey is a Burgundy shoemaker during the Second World War, an ordinary man who struggles to carry on his trade in an occupied country.

He thinks little of the war, other than that it prevents him from fulfilling his orders properly due to shortages of raw materials, which are often held up and/or requisitioned by the Germans.

He is a lonely, downcast man, still reeling from his wife leaving him for another man, a “baron” who owns a manor house on the outskirts of the village. He drowns his sorrows in his daily wine.

He thinks little of Jewish people, too. He barely even knows who they are. He has never heard of the deportations, and the exodus unfolding before his eyes seems to him nothing more than a procession of cars heading south to find safety.

So when he crosses paths with three young Jewish children, he is taken aback. His heart speaks to him, urging him to protect them.

2017 Fraternity Award (Prix de la Fraternité), Longvic.