‘The Lost Boys of Mercury’ Reveals Three Decades of Abuse of Children in a French Catholic Correctional Facility
variety.comTrinidad Barleycorn An important film: there are no other words to describe “The Lost Boys of Mercury” (Les Oubliés de la Belle Étoile), the second documentary feature by French director Clémence Davigo, which is in competition at Visions du Réel, in Nyon, Switzerland.
Important because it reveals a tragedy hidden for more than half a century: that of the children under the care of the French social services in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s placed in the La Belle Étoile Catholic correctional center in the mountain village of Mercury, Savoie.
There, for three decades, hundreds of them were mistreated, humiliated, starved, beaten, tortured with thumbtacks stuck under their nails, and some were sexually abused.
The film offers the first form of recognition to those who lived through hell there, by allowing them to be heard at last. The research work carried out by the director, who travelled all over France to gather the words of former residents, has had an impact already: an official investigation is underway. “The bishop to whom the protagonists speak in the film reported the matter to the prosecutor.
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