War of the Buttons

War of the Buttons (La Nouvelle Guerre des boutons, 2011) is Christophe Barratier's French family drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. In a corner of southern France in 1944, boys from two neighbouring villages wage their own running war: the winners strip every button, lace and belt from the losers.

Lebrac leads one of the gangs, planning raids, ambushes and a secret hideout in the woods. But beneath the schoolyard skirmishes runs a real one. The village sits under German occupation, and Violette, the girl Lebrac is sweet on, hides her Jewish background from neighbours all too eager to please the Nazis. The grown-up world pushes into the children's game, forcing them to grow up faster than they should. The cast includes Laetitia Casta, Guillaume Canet, Kad Merad and Gérard Jugnot.

Barratier, who made The Chorus, adapts Louis Pergaud's 1912 novel and threads occupation and resistance through it. He shoots rural France in warm, golden light, letting a carefree summer collide with a story far darker than its young heroes expect. A solid family watch for older kids ready to talk about the war. Stream War of the Buttons (2011) online on iFILM.