Wars, if they are long and destructive enough, can be traumatic even for the winning side. This is the conclusion you may get if you watch J’accuse, 1919 French silent film directed by Abel Gance, known as the first grand film to deal with First World War and often referenced as the first one do so with anti-war stance.
The plot begins in a village in Provence, at the south of France in Summer of 1914. Protagonist is Jean Diaz (played by Romuald Joubé), a poet and a gentle soul who is in love with Edith Laurine (played by Maryse Dauvrey), wife of violent and abusive François Laurine (played by Séverin-Mars). Jean’s feelings towards Edith are requited, which makes François jealous. Before two men can settle the matter, war starts and François gets mobilised. Edith goes to visit relatives in the north of country and gets captured by advancing German troops. Jean feels bound to avenge her and volunteers for service, gets rank of Lieutenant and, by chance, becomes superior officer to François who has built reputation of a brave soldier. Two men gradually begin to become friends and survive next four years in the trenches. Jean gets released from service on medical grounds and return to Provence. There he finds Edith with Angele (played by Angele Guys), 3-year old daughter that was conceived during the rape by German soldiers. Knowing that François might kill Edith or her child, he pretends that Angele is his distant relative, but when François returns on leave, it turns out that secret is difficult to maintain.
With the title that literally means “I accuse” (and which was shared by Emile Zola’s famous open letter published during Dreyfuss Affair), many would think that J’accuse is a film that wears author’s deep convictions on its sleeve. It does, but many of such convictions are contradictory, perhaps the result of Abel Gance, like the rest of his country and world in general, still not fully grasping what happened between 1914 and 1918. On one hand, Gance had first hand knowledge about horrors of trench warfare, being enlisted in Cinema Section of French Army in 1917. His service was brief but it inspired him to make a film about war and start doing it while the war was still going on, being supported by French cinema pioneer and film mogul Charles Pathé. Gance even re-enlisted into Cinema Section in 1918, which allowed him to shoot documentary footage about Battle of Saint-Mihiel, which he would later incorporate into J’accuse. Gance was also able to obtain large number of troops to serve as extras that he would use in famous “March of the Dead” scene near the end (and, to make the scene even more macabre, many of those allegedly perished after being brought back to trenches after the scene was shot).
Gance, on the other hand, in J’accuse clearly showed talent worthy of using such resources. The film was photographed well for 1910s standards and Gance used some innovative techniques, like moving camera and rapid editing, although not as effectively as later silent classics in 1920s. Gance nevertheless managed to bring some horrors of war to audience, most notably randomness of death in the trenches and, arguably, the most disturbing image of all – smiling face of French soldier revealed to be grimaced corpse half-buried in the mud. Those images make sharp contrast with idyllic life in French village and even sharper contrast with idealistic visions of the world in Diaz’s poems which Gance illustrates with great enthusiasm. J’accuse is nevertheless very dark film, which doesn’t shy away from some unpleasant subjects which don’t always have to be war related – spousal abuse, rape and ethnic intolerance (illustrated with brief scene in which village children mock “German” 3-year old girl).
Despite that, J’accuse, released shortly after the end of war, struck a powerful chord with French cinema audience, making it into a big hit and, later, helping Gance earn international reputation as one of the greatest film makers of his day. Yet, from today’s perspective, it is quite challenging film, even less approachable than some other great silent films of its time. The big problem is its excessive length and Gance’s tendency to repeat certain scenes, as well as overly theatrical acting style of Romuald Joubé and Gance’s good friend Séverin-Mars. But the worst flaw of J’accuse is incoherence of its message. On one hand, Gance wants to condemn the war as tragic waste of human lives and cause of endless misery for those who survive, yet, at the same time it celebrates patriotism and soldier’s willingness to sacrifice their lives. Probably the most visible of such contradictions comes in the scene where Jean Diaz before the battle tries to motivate soldiers by comparing them with mythical warrior of ancient Gaul; the iconography is quite out of place in the film which is supposed to be “anti-war”. Even the famous “March of the Dead” scenes in the film doesn’t fall out of French patriotic line – the spirits of the fallen soldiers don’t come to haunt politicians or diplomats that have sent them to trenches but actually come to haunt cheating wives and other ordinary citizens that, in one way or the other, abused their absence or didn’t respect their noble sacrifice. Gance probably became more aware of such contradictions so his 1938 sound remake had unquestionably anti-war stance.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog @drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
