Movies

This week has been interesting in class. We have studied three films dealing with World War II and the Resistance / Collaboration issues that arose in France. The first, Le Chagrin et La Pitie (The sorrow and the pity), was a ground-breaking documentary by Marcel Ophuls released in May 1968. As our seminar leaders put it, it is "a film which exposed not only the complex realities of the period but the less-than-admirable attitudes and actions of many of the French," forever shattering the Gaullist memory of great resistance. In addition, we viewed Lacombe, Lucien a film by Louis Malle released in 1974. A fascinating film that looks at the complexities of one person's struggle during the period of Occupation. While I am not a big fan of Lucien's, I thought the movie was excellent and really provided for an intense conversation amongst seminar participants. Finally, on Thursday (7/16) we viewed Lucie Aubrac a film released in 1997 directed by Claude Berri. This movie was interesting in that it provides a glorified view of the Resistance movement. Lucie and Raymond Aubrac were members of the Resistance, but in recent years have been challenged on their recounting of the memories. While the movie is a bit fantastic, it is worth a look to simply see the other side of the "coin" where the French were fighting back to regain their nation's sovereignty.