les quatre cents coups

over the weekend we watched les quatre cents coups (the 400 blows), an assignment for ben’s film class. the 1959 french film directed by françois truffaut, about a boy and his struggles with adolescence and the authority figures around him, sheds light on the cruel treatment of juvenile offenders during that era. in the film, the black and white images of france, cobblestone streets, and smoky tin rooftops are breathtaking.