‘War of Buttons’ Charms as It Gently Makes Point

John Roberts’ beguiling “War of the Buttons” drops Louis Pergaud’s classic novel into present-day Ireland and comes up with as much a winner as the memorable French film of the same name.

Whereas the 1962 Yves Robert film was an exuberant celebration of youthful anarchy in the spirit of Jean Vigo’s “Zero for Conduct” boarding school rebellion, this handsome Warners release emerges as a subtle anti-war allegory with inescapable implications for Ireland itself. Alternately funny, disturbing, tender and wise, this new “War of the Buttons” is a charmer, though a tad less complex than the original picture.

A wide stretch of tidal water in Southwest Ireland divides the two picture-book villages of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse, a more idyllic setting you cannot imagine. Yet this quiet region is beset by the intense rivalry between the adolescent boys from each town. In their own minds the Ballys and the Carricks seem to envision themselves as akin to “West Side Story’s” Sharks and Jets--or maybe even South-Central’s Bloods and Crips.

Roberts and his writer Collin Welland, who won an Oscar for his “Chariots of Fire” script, shrewdly don’t take sides yet tell their story from the point of view of the Ballys and in particular their leader, Fergus (Gregg Fitzgerald), who’s from a troubled home but is an intelligent kid who wants to make sense of his life.

Indeed, the Carricks’ leader, Jerome--nicknamed Geronimo (John Coffey)--seems like a nice guy himself. Both Fergus and Geronimo are in fact smart enough to wonder from time to time what all this warfare is all about. When pressed, Fergus explains that it’s “for the hell of it. What else is there?”--a remark that points up the truth that the countryside may be beautiful but life there can be pretty dull, especially for kids. The adults seem vaguely aware of the rivalry, but since when have grown-ups really known what adolescents are up to? It occurs to neither adults nor children that the Ballys and the Carricks might better work out their aggression in sports competitions.

The pranks and the skirmishes that the Ballys and the Carricks engage in are frequently funny and inspired. Since they’re all good kids they settle on slicing off all the buttons of a captive’s clothes. Still, combat inevitably escalates, and you begin to fear that slingshots and big sticks could seriously harm a youngster--or worse. But just as the rivalry looks to be resolved once and for all, “War of the Buttons” evolves in its tense and suspenseful climactic sequence that yields entirely fresh meanings.

Photographed by France’s formidable Bruno deKeyzer, “War of the Buttons” is a fine little film studded with terrific acting, especially by Fitzgerald, who fittingly recalls Jean-Pierre Leaud in “The Four Hundred Blows” in character as well as appearance.

* MPAA rating: PG, for mischievous conflict, some mild language and bare bottoms. Times guidelines: The film is suitable for all ages.

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‘War of the Buttons’

Gregg Fitzgerald: Fergus

John Coffey: Geronimo

Liam Cunningham: The Master

Thomas Kavanagh: Riley

A Warner Bros. release of an Anglo-French co-production in association with Fujisankei Communications Group presentation of an Enigma production in association with La Gueville and Hugo Films. Director John Roberts. Producer David Puttnam. Executive producers Xavier Gelin & Stephane Marsil and David Nichols. Screenplay by Colin Welland; from the French film “La Guerre du Boutons,” based on the Louis Pergaud novel. Cinematographer Bruno deKeyzer. Editor David Freeman. Music Rachel Portman. Production designer Jim Clay. Art director Chris Seagers. Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Samuel Goldwyn Pavilion, Westside Pavilion, 10800 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 475-0202).