Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits) Criterion 1952 Rene Clement

France, 1940: Five-year-old Paulette's parents and their little dog are killed in a German air raid. The girl wanders aimlessly through the countryside with the dead dog in her arms until she meets the eleven-year-old son of a farmer, Michel. He takes care of the girl and takes her to his parents' farm, where Michel's older brother is dying. To comfort Paulette over the death of her dog, he creates a pet cemetery with her. They steal the crosses for the small graves from the cemetery in a secret night-time adventure. The children play 'war' and 'cemetery' because it is the reality that surrounds them. A deep, touching relationship develops between Paulette and Michel. Until Paulette is picked up by the Red Cross.