This story about aimlessly joining a group of Nazi Gestapo thugs during WWII could have been better done with better writing and directing.The unfortunate fact is that this movie has no motivation in any of the characters that is credible. It looks like a writer and director preaching their own neo Nazi ideology.That is not opinion, because the very reviews so far of this movie sustain my observation that there are people here engaging in the preaching and brainwashing. As of the date of this review, if one reads through the existing reviews, one cannot help but realize that over half of the reviews are carbon copies to the extent that it is undeniably the work of one control freak using many fake user names. The differences are minimal, and the focus is always on the same two or three minute details that don't even stand out, and some are even made up.One made up item in the reviews by the control freak is that Lucien falls in love with a beautiful Jewish girl. Laughably, the girl shows lots of skin, but pales in comparison to the knock out beauty that Lucien is supposed to be disinterested in, because of her dark hair it appears, which shows that the director is indeed preaching a neo Nazi ideology that the savage male is Nazi. No doubt, the women like this idea, out of jealousy, but no man could buy into this.So, we see no credible motivation at all in Lucien from a male standpoint, though the women want to believe it. Next, the reviews claim Lucien is ambling through it without any real evil in him. His only motivation is causing evil. The entire escapade involving the Jewish girl and her father is one that is not motivated. It can't be lust, because he has the hot hotel maid claimed, and the maid is stunning, while the woman he supposedly lusts for is just average looking at best, and exhibits no real sensuality, though again I'm sure the woman will want to disagree, the same women who want men to like the plain Ginger who needs make up and royal garb to begin to compete, over the centerfold May Ann.Every move Lucien makes is one of spurring up evil. The Jewish tailor and his daughter live in danger, but everything Lucien does is to put them in more danger, and indeed his only motivation is evil for evil's sake. Of all the Gestapo, he is the worst, and again the reviews I speak of are obviously written by one control freak, as they try to maintain Lucien has some other motivation, and is ambling along with evil men, whereas it's clear they are ambling along with the demon that controls him.The director and writer fail miserably. Their buddy writing reviews under fake user names here fails miserably. That individual probably has a relative that was part of this bomb of a movie, or has some equivalent incentive, but there is no credibility to those reviews, and unfortunately, you would have to sit through this poor movie to realize that, and I wouldn't give that control freak the satisfaction if I were you.

In 1944, in the southwest of France, the teenager Lucien Lacombe (Pierre Blaise) works in a nursing home and returns to his hometown Souleillac for vacation. His father is a German's prisoner and he finds that his mother is living with her master Mr. Laborit (Jacques Rispal). Lucien seeks out the local schoolteacher and leader of the French Resistance Mr. Peyssac (Jean Bousquet) to join the group, but the man tells that he is too young and will not be accepted.Lucien returns to his job riding a bicycle and he has a flat tire. He arrives late in town and the German police bring him to a hotel and Lucien snitches Mr. Peyssac that is arrested and tortured. Lucien is invited to join the police by the Chief of Police Mr. Tonin (Jean Rougerie) and takes advantages of his new position. When Lucien visits the Jewish tailor Albert Horn (Holger Löwenadler) to make new clothing, he sees his beautiful daughter France (Aurore Clément) and forces her to date him. Later Albert is arrested and when France and her grandmother Bella Horn (Therese Giehse) are hold by the Germans, Lucien kills the German soldier and flees with them to the countryside."Lacombe Lucien" tells the fictional story of a despicable collaborationist in World War II. The brainless Lacombe Lucien is an alienated and wicked teenager without any sense of patriotism, morality, emotion, love or respect, and uses his power to hurt people. I do not recall any other film with a collaborationist in the leading role. The wooden Pierre Blaise keeps the same expression along the whole film and I do not know whether this is intentional to show how alienated his character is or whether he is simply a ham actor. The conclusion is very disappointing. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Lacombe Lucien"

When initially released, the film was judged harshly by critics from the left because of its "non-judgmental stance toward collaboration". Some of the commentators wrote that "Indeed, the film offers no psychological interpretations but is content to simply show what happened in almost Bressonian fashion." I strongly disagree with these opinions; right from the opening scene where Lucien stops washing the floors of the hospice where he works to take out a sling shot and shoot down a singing bird, an obvious act of cruelty that defines Lucien's character at the very beginning of the film. Lucien is aware of the fact that what he's doing is wrong; he slants a sideways look to check if anyone's observing him. This strong statement about Lucien character is no coincidence. Throughout the movie there are other scenes where Lucien's nasty personality comes out: his betrayal of the school teacher who refused to let him join the resistance movement, his abuse of power, his bullying of the Horn family etc., and toward the end of the movie when the German soldier takes the pocket watch Lucien stole, Lucien kills him to take it back! Louis Malle taints handsome Lucien's character with the worst of human characteristics; he is cruel, rude, jealous, a looter and a thieve, a snitch, a coward, a bully and finally, a murderer who shoots someone in the back. Malle could have not have offered better psychological interpretations.

PIERRE BLAISE is the young man who plays the title character in LACOMBE LUCIEN, the story of an unhappy youth who becomes a Nazi collaborator during WWII in France. It's a fictional account and the young actor was a non-professional chosen for the role who met an untimely death a year later in an auto accident.He plays a French peasant who falls in love with a Jewish girl while working for the Gestapo. It's an engrossing story dealing with a lot of unpleasant, unsavory situations including scenes of torture and animal cruelty, moving unpredictably through a whole gamut of scenes which give a strong impression of what it must have been like for the French during the war.For a non-actor, Blaise gives a commanding performance in a film he is forced to carry since the whole story revolves around his behavior, close-up and personal. Malle has to be commended for getting a natural, unforced performance from young Blaise and good work from all the cast members.Summing up: Although it has a rather abrupt ending, it's a realistic look at Franco/German relations during WWII. The central characters are an interesting lot and the story moves swiftly through its two hours and fifteen minutes time span with gorgeous shots of the French countryside.