DIRECTORS
Elisabeth Coronel, Florence
Gaillard & Arnaud de
Mezamat
PARTICIPANT
Simone Lagrange
GENRE
Documentary
DISTRIBUTOR
Icarus Films
RUNNING TIME 88’
PRODUCTION France, 2010
RATING Not Rated
GAUGE DVD, Digibeta
“‘I have not become what they wanted me to be,” she often tells teen-agers that
gather to listen to her account. The strength of her words reflect the thirteen-yearold
she was, as do her characteristic revolt and tenacity. By its very subjectivity, the
innermost experience at the heart of each survivor's testimony, makes it unique and
irreplaceable.”
From Andana Films distribution company.
In this essential documentary, the eloquent and commanding Simone
Lagrange recalls, with astonishing detail, the horrors of the Holocaust and
her indispensable role in bringing Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie to justice.
Born in 1930 in Saint-Fons, Lagrange, whose family was involved in the
Resistance, recounts fiercely defying an anti-Semitic teacher; her
unyielding courage would later save her life in Auschwitz. Composed of a
lengthy interview with Lagrange interspersed with archival footage (and a
recent speaking engagement in a classroom), As a Young Girl of 13
features a subject who recalls the most unspeakable acts of barbarity with
clear-eyed acuity. Of her first meeting with Barbie—a.k.a. the “Butcher of
Lyon”—Lagrange shares the incongruous image of this brutal SS officer
stroking a cat. It is precisely Lagrange’s razor-sharp memory for details
that proves crucial in identifying Barbie more than 40 years later, when he
was extradited to France after decades of living under an alias in South
America. Footage of Lagrange testifying at Barbie’s trial in 1987—asserting
that he is, without a doubt, the man who tortured her—stands as the
most riveting moment in this unforgettable film about a most formidable
woman.
The Tournées Festival
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