Michou d'Auber (France)

A slightly creepy concept that by the end sort of worked for me. In the years before Algerian independence a man with a dying wife makes a decision to place his boys into French foster care. Though the younger one grew up outside of Paris everyone around them views the boys derogatorily as "Arabs." The foster mother who takes him in is worried about the reaction of her ex-soldier husband and disguises him by dyeing his hair and changing his name. A series of uncomfortable scenes follow showing her trying to hide everything from the kid's lack of knowledge of Christianity to his aversion to pork (in rural pig country). But of course the big loveable racist of a husband takes a liking to the boy and things mostly work out. It sometimes feels as though they're shooting for comedy, but it think it works better seen as a coming of age film (or as allegory for a changing France)..
I couldn't get a sense from the writeup I saw if this is based on any true events. I kept wondering if it was given the stranger than fiction aspect to it.

Intellectually something still feels a bit off about this. But for some reason I did like (though not love) the movie - maybe through the efforts of the actors more than the script. Even Gérard Depardieu was pleasant to watch. Weird on many levels ;-)