Just outside Paris, in a peaceful clearing surrounded by woods, a French flag flies above a bare concrete pad. Here, on February 21, 1944, Nazi occupiers executed 23 Resistance fighters by firing squad.
After the executions, the Nazis highlighted many of the murdered fighters on a notorious red poster, labelling them as foreigners, communists, and Jews.
23 FOREIGNERS — OUR BROTHERS tells the stories behind some of the faces on that poster, exploring their lives through archival photos, letters they wrote on the eve of their deaths, and moving interviews with their descendants. Speaking by the grave of Thomas Ekel (who was 20), his nephew says, “I think I have a powerful thirst for life, in part to give Thomas the life he didn’t have.” And Celestino Alfonso’s granddaughter, who grew up knowing little about him, now sees Alfonso as a powerful protective force in her life.
Co-directed by Ruth Zylberman (The Children of 209 Saint-Maur Street) and Mosco Boucault, 23 FOREIGNERS — OUR BROTHERS is a follow up to Boucault’s 1983 documentary Terrorists in Retirement. Where that earlier film focused on Resistance members who survived, 23 FOREIGNERS captures the ongoing presence and influence of those who did not.
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