Category Archives: France

Movie: Joyeux Noël – Merry Christmas (2005)

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On the night before Christmas in 1914, the France-Scotland allied forces face a narrow no man’s land from a trench in northern France as the occupying German army advances further onto French territory. International opera singer Nikolaus Sprink, who was enlisted by the German army, is visited by his lover, soprano Anna (Diane Kruger). The night before Christmas, Father Palmer, who is serving Scotland as a combat medic, plays a Christmas song with a bagpipe in the Scotland camp, and Nikolaus of the German camp starts to sing along to the Christmas hymn. The France-Scotland army find themselves applauding, and Nikolaus stands in the neutral no man’s land and continues to sing. Prompted by this, the commanding officers of the three countries meet in the neutral zone, and decide to suspend the combat for Christmas Eve. Father Palmer gives Christmas mass, and Anna sings a hymn. They suspend combat the next day, too, burying their dead comrades abandoned in the neutral zone, enjoying soccer, sharing chocolate and champagne, and showing each other photographs of their families. However, the time comes that these soldiers who shared a brief moment of camaraderie must resume fighting. The military authorities of each army and the upper echelon of the church are angry when they learn about this exchange of friendship, and the soldiers who exchanged friendship face severe consequences for their conduct.

It may be unbelievable that soldiers of enemy nations really shared friendship during the war, but this movie was made by connecting various real facts. The Christmas truce and the exchange of friendship between enemy nations during World War I did not make it into official records. However, the soldiers who survived the Western Front told the truth to family and friends by word of mouth and with photographs after they returned.

In 1914, it actually happened that a German tenor singer, Walter Kirchhoff, visited the German army to offer moral support and sang in the trench; on the other side of no man’s land, a French officer, recognizing Walter’s voice from a performance of his in the Paris Opera house, applauded. Walter then crossed the neutral no man’s land to greet the officer who had applauded. It also happened that a cat loved by both the German and French armies was arrested by the French army. It is said that this cat was later executed as a spy. In addition, it seems to be true that soccer and games were enjoyed between enemy armies.

This Christmas truce happened on the first Christmas after World War I started. World War I was the first ever all-out, world war, and nobody knew what direction the war would develop; at the beginning, there was an optimistic feeling that the war would be over quickly. However, as the war continued, dangerous weapons and poisonous gas were used. Also, the airplanes that were initially used for reconnaissance were transformed into terrible fighters. As the war became violent and cruel, events like the Christmas truce depicted in the movie became rare.

What brought these enemies together momentarily were the forces of music, sports, and religion. All the battling nations—Germany, France, and England—were Christian, and people’s faith was strong in those days; Christmas was really important, and it was the motivation behind the Christmas truce. It was easy to understand enemy nations that were similarly Christian. Something like the Christmas truce wouldn’t have happened if it had been a battle between Muslims and Christians, or Muslims and Jews.

It was Germany that underwent the greatest political change during World War I. Germany was still an empire in those days, and the people fought in the name of Wilhelm II, the German emperor and Prussian King. However, as the Great War continued, the war-weariness of the nation increased. On November 3, 1918, the sailors of the Kiel naval port mutinied, and, with the resulting populist uprising, the German Revolution ensued. Wilhelm II fled to the Netherlands, thus ending World War I. The Weimar Republic with the principle of parliamentary was established in Germany.

After that, the German government was unstable. After their defeat, they received economic retribution from the victorious nations, and the German people lived miserable lives. Within this dissatisfaction, the Nazis were formed in 1920, and this led to World War II. In this movie, the First Lieutenant Horstmayer, who led the German faction and agreed to the Christmas truce, was Jewish. Crown Prince Wilhelm, who was the highest commanding officer on the Western Front, was enraged when he found out about the Christmas truce, and sends First Lieutenant Horstmayer’s unit to the dangerous Eastern Front; at this time, the Crown Prince Wilhelm points with his sword at the iron cross of the German army at the chest of the First Lieutenant, and shouts, “You don’t deserve the iron cross.” This scene suggests the fates Jews met 20 years later—having their German citizenship revoked, not being able to apply for the German army, and being sent to concentration camps.

If I were to say the message of this movie in a few words, I might say, “The willingness for citizens to fight is created by the leader of the nation.” The movie starts with a scene with elementary school students in Britain, Germany, and France having patriotism hammered into their heads and being taught hostility towards their neighbors. Because citizens are made to think that soldiers of enemy nations are faceless beasts, they can fight in a war. However, through the exchange on the night of Christmas Eve, the soldiers recognized each other as human for the first time, and it became difficult to kill each other. When the First Lieutenant Audebert leading the French army received criticism for the Christmas truce, he responded, “The German soldiers are more human compared to these people shouting to kill Germans!” Also, the audience will forever remember the sentiment of the soldiers who had to return to war: “We (today only) can forget war. But the war won’t forget us.”

This movie is an impressive work that depicts beautiful details, but if I were to illuminate a fault, it is that Diane Kruger who performed as an opera singer was too obviously lip-syncing. The hymn which she sings in front of the soldiers should be a huge turning point, but her body doesn’t quiver as she sings, and her mouth was just monotonously opening and closing; there are too many moments when the lyrics and her mouth movement are out of synch. Since she looks like a beautiful picture with only her mouth opening and closing, quite a few viewers may lose empathy at this point of the movie. Diane Kruger is certainly beautiful, but for this scene, I would have preferred watching a real opera singer, such as Natalie Dessay who supplied the real singing voice in this movie. The audience may be deeply moved by the musical performance of Father Palmer of the Scottish army on the bagpipes, rather than Diane Kruger’s lip-syncing. Tea with Mussolini also features a bagpipe when the movie ends with the Scottish army entering an Italian town occupied by the Nazis. The sound of the bagpipe is joyful, optimistic, sorrowful, and poignant.

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Movie: Of Gods and Men — Des hommes et des dieux (2010)

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Even for someone who doesn’t know about monasteries, Christianity, Islam, or Algeria, I think this movie is a very powerful and convincing movie. Viewers feel there is more than just religion and politics in this movie.

In the rustic Catholic Notre-Dame de l’Atlas monastery in Algeria, eight French monks and doctors live as an important part of the surrounding community. However, the actions of Islamic extremists begin to affect the nearby area, and a Croatian is murdered in a wasteland less than 20 kilometers away from the monastery. The monastery is drawn into a dispute between Algerian government troops and extremists when several armed extremists break into the monastery on Christmas Eve and demand medical treatment for their injured. When the French government requests that the monks return to France, the monks debate over returning for their own safety, or staying and risk becoming martyrs.

These monks abandoned their assets and decided to leave their families in order to help people in the area and impart the teachings of God. Do those who have abandoned an ordinary life to serve God still wish to avoid death? Naturally, as humans, they have a fear of death. However, since they are giving their own lives to God, they believe they should not waste their lives and should serve God as long as they can. Therefore, remaining here while knowing danger approaches could be a waste of the life God gave them.

On the other hand, some monks think of this Algerian village as their own hometown and are determined to die there. Also, some think that they have not yet accomplished God’s mission given to them and feel they can’t leave yet. Others are unable to decide with conviction so they pray to God to hear God’s voice. However, they do not get an answer from God.

Even though the monks are divided on the question of whether to stay or retreat, no one intends to have the government army troops protect them. God’s voice is the basis for their decisions, and thus they don’t makes decisions based on the politics of either the government troops or the extremists who are killing each other. In the end, the question to be answered is, “When the wolf attacks, does a shepherd desert the sheep and run away?” Even though the villagers are Muslim, the villagers rely on the monks and are thankful for the services they provide. Therefore, the monks are able to gain the conviction that, whatever may happen, their service here was not futile and they are determined to die here in the village. This movie is based on a true story of monks that were executed by decapitation in Algeria in 1996.

North African French colonies Tunisia and Morocco declared their independence in 1956. However, unlike these two countries where the organization of the monarchy was preserved as French protectorates, Algeria was treated as a part of France and there were many Europeans living in Algeria; therefore the public opinion of France voiced strong opposition to the independence of Algeria and the French government did not allow independence. Algerians of European descent wanted to maintain their privileges as Europeans and kept refusing to cooperate with the Berbers and Arabs living in Algeria; therefore the development of a cross-ethnic, moderate independence movement toward a unified nation failed. Algeria underwent the violent Algerian War from 1954 to 1962 before gaining their independence from France and due to this, one million Algerians of European descent escaped to France en masse. The Muslim Algerians who cooperated with France and were not able to take refuge in France were massacred as retribution.

Algeria had a constitution after their independence, adopted neutral political measures, succeeded in rebuilding the economy, and seemed to be proceeding smoothly in the founding of their nation; however, in the late 1980s, inflation worsened, and food shortages and unemployment brought about social unrest. These circumstances were the backdrop for the rise of Islamic doctrine among the youth, and some Islam fundamentalists started armed opposition.

Gaining the support of the unemployed, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the 1990 local elections with more than half of all of the communes; the FIS carried out a strict Islam rule in the communes that they won, implementing policies such as the banning of alcohol, segregation of sexes, and criticism of the Gallicized middleclass that was the majority of Algerian society. As a result of the FIS’s overwhelming victory in the first general election held in 1991, they acquired 80% of the parliamentary seats and invalidated the constitution. Student organizations seeking liberty, women’s organizations, and socialist organizations criticized the actions of the FIS, and military authorities opposing the FIS seized power in a coup d’état the following year in 1992. European nations supported the coup d’état and Mohammed Boudiaf became the chairman of the High Council of State established in January; in March, Boudiaf illegalized and oppressed the FIS and invalidated their election. However, Boudiaf was assassinated that June.

Due to oppression from the government, Islam advocates formed the Armed Islamic Group in 1992, and started acts of terrorism targeting police, military authorities, intellectuals, and liberals. In January of 1994, Zéroual assumed office as a temporary president, but the violence of the terrorism of Islamic organizations increased during Zéroual’s time and Algeria fell into massive chaos. In the 1999 presidential elections, Bouteflika, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was elected as the first civilian president in 34 years; he proposed disarmament and a peace settlement that gave amnesty to extremists who surrendered, and with this, the civil war started to be resolved. Two right-of-center political parties that supported the president—including the Algerian National Liberation Front—and the Movement of Society for Peace—a moderate Islam political party—formed a three-party coalition government and maintained majority in the May general election. It is said that approximately 200,000 people died in the Algerian Civil War between the government, military, and Islamic fundamentalist groups.

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Movie: The Women on the 6th Floor — Les Femmes du 6ème étage (2011)

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This movie that I casually chose without knowing anything about was such an enjoyable one!! The story, images, actors, and the conversations within this movie were delicious, and I got hungry watching it.

It is Paris in the 1960s. Poor Spanish women under Franco’s oppression in Spain moved to Paris to live as maids for wealthy French people. These women earn what money they can in a foreign country to support their poor family back home, and return to their home country if they are able to save up enough money. They nostalgically think about their family they left back home, the relationships with other villagers, the warmth spreading through the air, and foods that they often ate; fellow Spanish maids in Paris help each other, go to church every Sunday, and look forward to the day they can finally return home. However, even if they miss their hometown, a few made up their mind to not return unless the reign of terror of Franco ended.

Maria is a young, beautiful, intelligent, pious, and capable Spanish maid. She is the favorite of her affluent landlord employer and his wife, but as the story develops, it becomes clear there is something hidden within Maria. Because the landlord’s wife rose to the upper class from being a poor country girl through marriage, she doesn’t have self-confidence and she tries very hard to assimilate into the superficial high society of Paris. Her husband had everything he could want—wealth, job, family—and thought he was satisfied with life, until he met Maria.

I don’t write here what happens to the two people because it is a spoiler. The landlord married his current wife without having given it much thought because, even though he is the son of a rich family, he had a feeling of being cramped in the upper class and felt more comfortable with a woman from the countryside. Maria was born with elegance and a strong mind, and is a woman who truly has the self-confidence to not feel inferior to others, even with a difference in social class. Maria is the kind of person who can make herself and the person she loves happy, while the landlord is actually quite gracious if need be when it comes to letting go of extra things, and as a viewer, I find myself wishing that the landlord and Maria somehow find happiness.

Natalia Verbeke who played Maria has a small face and good posture, somehow like a ballerina. This actress met the director’s strict standards of, “Maria must be beautiful, but not too beautiful.” Verbeke was born in Argentina in 1975, but because of the oppressive politics during the “Dirty War” when she was a child, she and her family fled Argentina and moved to Spain.

This is a digression, but Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris was another movie set in Paris released around the same time. In Allen’s movie, every scene seems to be a typical picture postcard, and by pasting all of these picture postcard scenes together, he is trying to paint Paris with brute force; but the movie shows his same New Yorker mentality and it lacks the true smells and essence of life in Paris. In contrast, The Women on the 6th Floor is set in Paris, but does not show any typical Paris scenery. For the migrant Spanish worker, most of what is seen is her working place, the market, the church, and her own loft. Living in Paris doesn’t mean visiting all the places for tourists. The lives of Maria and her friends are made up by their surroundings, and I think they really live in Paris, even though they are there just for a short time.

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Movie: Persepolis (2007)

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This movie is about being a “young adult.” This is the period when people start thinking of themselves no longer as children, but aren’t yet recognized as adults by those around them; it is the period of their ego sprouting, selecting their life course, interest in the other gender, and conflict with grownups or the establishment. Similar to puberty, the period of young adulthood often includes behaviors such as becoming uncontrollable after leaving the supervision of their parents or acting without restraint in regards to violence or suicide, by obsessing over the opposite sex or drugs, or running away from home.

Persepolis is the film adaptation of the autobiographical graphic novel that depicts the period of young adulthood of Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi. Becoming an adult is quite difficult, but because her time of growth coincided completely with the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Iran-Iraq War, and the subsequent cultural oppression, Persepolis is tinged with a considerable political flavor, though Marjane Satrapi is not a political person. She herself said this interesting comment: “I am not interested in politics. Politics is interested in ME!”

Marjane Satrapi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1969. She is the great grandchild of Ahmad Shah, the last shah of the former Qajar dynasty. Her grandfather and uncle were imprisoned for opposing the policies of Pahlavi Shah who succeeded Ahmad Shah. Her father also possessed progressive thoughts and he spearheaded a resistance movement with the majority of the nation against Pahlavi Shah who suppressed freedom. The joy of Pahlavi Shah fleeing the country in January of 1979 was short-lived; in April, Iran established the Islamic Republic based on a national referendum, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini took power, and oppression in Iran worsened beyond that under Pahlavi Shah’s reign. In addition, their neighbor Iraq, having had disputes at the national border for many years and fearing the influence of the Iranian Revolution, invaded Iran and the Iran-Iraq War began in 1980. Rumors of young soldiers being put in the frontline of the battlefield as a “bullet shield” circulated and many parents who had sons of drafting age fled the country.

In 1983, Marjane Satrapi’s parents arranged for her to move to Austria’s capital Vienna by herself to study abroad. It was not to avoid the war, but rather her parents feared their daughter might become a victim of legal rape; the minimum age for women to get married was reduced to 9 years old in the new Muslim regime and any sexual abuse after a young girl was forced to marry would no longer be considered a crime. However, she was not able to adapt to life in Austria. In those days, the international image of Iranians was a cruel savage, and she wondered if others saw her this way. In addition, she struggled with how her looks and body were different than European girls at an age when she was self-conscious about her appearance; she lived a depraved life without the supervision of her parents, fought with the people providing her housing, and, in the end, slept in the streets without a house to live in and spent her days digging through dumpsters. Suffering from pneumonia and homesick from such a lifestyle, she finally returned to Iran.

After returning home, she became depressed and she almost died from overdosing on drugs. However, with the encouraging words of her family–“Study at a university and become an independent woman”—she entered university. After the failure of a brief marriage with a young Iranian man, the movie ends with her moving to France in 1994 at the suggestion of her parents—“You can’t live your potential in present-day Iran.”

Her uncle was executed under the Islamic Republic alongside other liberals and socialists. A friend that went to war returned without limbs. A friend who lived next door was hit by a missile from Iraq and died. Parties were illegal under the Islamic Republic, but she dared to participate and a friend was chased by the police and died. She was arrested for behavior unsuitable for an Islamic woman and was told, “A fine or a beating?”; she was released after paying a large sum of money. The university she entered with high expectations was governed by Islamic principle, so she had no joy. She had thought Pahlavi Shah was a bad person, but his regime imprisoned her uncle while the regime of the Muslim Khomeini executed her uncle. Nothing in society had improved.

Even though this movie depicts her terrible youth, it does not lose its peculiar cheerfulness. One reason for its cheerfulness is that it is animated and not performed by real actors. Her drawings render a strange, humorous style. However, the brightness flowing through the bottom of this movie will come from the love of family. Marjane Satrapi’s parents were progressive people, but unlike her grandfather and uncle that were executed, they acquired worldly wisdom in order to find a way to survive under political and religious oppression. However, at the same time, they taught their daughter to do the right thing in life, to skillfully find happiness, and to believe in and pursue her own talents. They made up their minds to protect their child from danger by any means and unconditionally forgave and supported her completely if she made a mistake because of immaturity.

With the genuine support from her parents and grandmother, Marjane Satrapi grew up to be a real adult. She was a child who had strong curiosity, was outspoken with her thoughts—which made people around her worry—and became depressed from her difficulties to the point where she may not have been able to recover; but she was also surprisingly acute enough to see opportunities and was able to size up her surroundings with a watchful eye in order to survive. As soon as she was determined to not lose sleep over what was already past, she became a strong person who was amazingly able to live facing forward. Though she was a loser in Austria, she blossomed in a big way in France. Was there a difference in Austria and France? Or is the reason that she became a real adult in France?

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Movie: Blame it on Fidel — La Faute à Fidel (2006)

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BlameitonFidelThe period of the 1960s through the 1970s was a time of great social upheaval around the whole world. Castro declared socialism In Cuba in 1961, Indochina was bogged down with the Vietnam War, and the Cultural Revolution continued in China. A socialist administration was established in Chile by means of a democratic general election. Even in the Western Bloc, there were the May 1968 events in Paris and demonstrations against a military regime in Greece. In addition, an anti-war movement was surging in America and acts of terrorism by the Red Army and extreme leftists occurred one after another in Japan. In Spain, Franco’s dictatorship still continued since the Spanish Civil War. In short, it was a period where problems that weren’t able to be settled after World War II surfaced.

1970. Nine-year old Anna lives in Paris with her Spanish father Fernando, a lawyer, and her mother Marie, the editor of the woman magazine Marie Claire, in a magnificent mansion with a garden, and she commutes to a prestigious Catholic mission school. Anna spends her vacations in Bordeaux and is looked after every day by their maid, who fled from Cuba where Fidel Castro had established a socialist system. One day, her uncle in Spain is executed for opposing Franco’s dictatorship and the aunt who escaped Spain starts living together in Anna’s house, which triggers a change in the father’s behavior. Fernando, feeling in debt for having not done anything so far for his native country of Spain, feels his social conscience awaken and suddenly takes a trip to Chile with Marie. The two then return completely baptized with communism and start to look like hippies, and Anna is not pleased at all with the changes in her surroundings. The Cuban maid says to Anna, “Everything, blame it on Fidel.” The maid is later fired. Fernando resigns as a lawyer and works to establish Allende and a socialist administration in Chile, while the mother decides to start a movement supporting abortion to expand women’s rights. Because of the change in her parents, Anna’s life also takes a 180 degree turn. She no longer takes the classes on religion that she loved, her family moves from their big house to a small apartment, and she has a Vietnamese babysitter that comes to the apartment. Although President Allende is elected as the leader of the socialist administration, it is short-lived and President Allende is assassinated. Watching her deeply grieving father, Anna decides to visit her family’s roots; she finds that her family was high-ranking nobility in Spain, cruelly oppressed anti-royalists, and belonged to a pro-Franco faction under the Franco administration. The movie ends with the scene of Anna commuting to her first day of school after dropping out of Catholic school and deciding to attend public school.

In a word, the impression I got from this movie is “headstrong.” Headstrong might mean overly rationalistic, or stubborn, or an empty talker; this is the attitude of someone judging others using the lens of their own ideology, rather than absorbing and accepting their surroundings with an open mind and without preconceptions. Although the events of just one year are in this two hour movie, it is a very busy movie as it tries to pack in all of the problems of the world.

In the beginning, the death of Fernando’s brother-in-law happens at the same time as the younger sister’s wedding. I would think a political death is more shocking than one of natural causes, but since the wedding ceremony is carried out happily, if you are not careful, you may not notice that the uncle has been executed. The maid changes one after another from a Cuban, a Greek who fled her country, and then a Vietnamese woman. Shocked from the uncle’s death, it is fine that a political conscience that until now has been ignored is awakened, but why does the father join the reform in far-away Chile and not Spain of his own roots? Costa-Gavras, the father of this movie’s director Julie Gavras, possesed left-wing ideology and gained global fame with his Missing, which depicts the conspiracy of the American government in Chile; I can’t help but think that his daughter is exploiting this. It seems that Fernando and Marie stay in Chile for about two weeks, but after that, the two return as die-hard communists. If communist brainwashing is as simple as this, Lenin and Stalin wouldn’t have had so much difficulty. Fernando’s younger sister who married two or three months ago and should be very happy suddenly wants an abortion and Marie begins to play a big role as a feminist. What, she is already pregnant? And is she already unhappy with the married life just after getting married? This makes me want to recheck the numbers since two or three months doesn’t seem like enough time for this to happen. As an additional bonus, Marie grumbles about there being no true liberation for women even in a socialist household when Fernando angrily tells her, “You should be a good mother and give more of your attention to your family rather than having the maid look after our child,” because he is jealous of her being more famous than him with the publicity she gained from her article about the “Manifesto of the 343” demanding the lifting of the ban on abortion.

It is as if director Julie Gavras wanted to say:

“’Sorry, mommy and daddy have their hands full with their own problems, and you may suffer for it. But mommy and daddy are doing their best to pursue what they think is right. Perhaps you will understand the feeling of daddy and mommy when you are an adult,’ the mother says to her daughter.

To which the daughter responds, ‘No, daddy and mommy, you don’t have to shout about solidarity or unity to achieve it. If you lend a hand–even if you don’t say anything—you are connected to those around you. I get it.’”

This is my guess, but this movie still leaves me questioning whether making a movie that is crowded with all of the world’s problems is the best method to convey this message.

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Movie: Entre les murs – The Class (2008)

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Since this movie is the movie adaptation of Paris middle school teacher François Bégaudeau’s book Entre les murs (“within the classroom”) which he wrote based on his own experience, François Bégaudeau also wrote the screenplay and performed as himself in the movie. In addition to his main job as a teacher, his careers include being a rock musician, writer, and rock music critic; after winning a César Award as a scriptwriter, being awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and being nominated for an Academy Award, he has added to his resume a career in the movie industry. After his book became popular, he resigned as a teacher and now seems to be doing writing and movie-related work.

Many different races are mixed in this middle school class that is in the 20th district of Paris where immigrants from a variety of areas coexist. This movie mainly depicts the events that occur over the course of one year within François’s class. François is a French teacher that teaches authentic French to students who mostly don’t speak French as their native language. In terms of the French ability of the children, they have no problem with daily conversation, but their verb conjugation is incorrect and they do not sufficiently understand abstract vocabulary or subjunctive mood that is mainly used in writing. Many of the students are black children of immigrants, but their homelands vary—Mali and Morocco in Africa, the Caribbean, etc.—so their cultural backgrounds are diverse; we can’t simply say “immigrant children” or “black immigrant”. Small fights between these children frequently happen.

This movie received the highest accolades at distinguished film festivals and, as a movie about a school with teacher-student relations, I expected a poignant drama of an enthusiastic schoolteacher, but it was actually different when I watched it. This movie does not discuss an ideal education, does not praise either the teacher or the students, and is not a social issue drama depicting the children of immigrants. If entering with such expectations, you will leave with them unfulfilled. Various problems happen one after another and François works hard to respond to them, but he isn’t necessarily able to solve the problems well. This movie simply depicts various incidents—many arguments and conversations between students and the teacher, parents and the teacher, and among teachers—and then the school year just ends. So then some may wonder, what is good about this movie?

First, why did François Bégaudeau write his original Entre les murs? It is because of the inconsolable present conditions of his career as a teacher. A job is needed in order for anyone to survive, so he became a teacher. Since his parents were also teachers, teaching was a familiar occupation. However, a teacher in France is not very well paid, is not thanked by students and parents even when working very hard, and every day is spent responding to students who constantly talk back. He likes his students and seems to have enthusiasm for his job, but nevertheless, if I borrow his words, teaching is “the saddest occupation.” Being a middle school teacher is enormously hard work. Nobody looks down on a teacher (I hope), and everyone thinks that someone must work as a middle school teacher. However, there may not be many people who are willing to be a middle school teacher. It is a problem that, even though people recognize it is an important job, only a few people are excitedly applying for these jobs.

Then why did director Laurent Cantet want to make this book into a movie? Like François Bégaudeau, Laurent Cantet’s parents were also teachers. He had direct knowledge about school teachers and he recognized that education had a significant role in preparing a child for the real world; but he was also aware that, if the education system did not function well, many students fell through the system. For Laurent Cantet who thought about the present condition of education theoretically, François Bégaudeau’s book that concretely conveyed the viewpoint of children and the life of the classroom stimulated his creative mind and I think this was his main motive for making this movie about education. Laurent Cantet’s theme is probably something like, “Education should give children opportunities, but has it become a place that instead narrows the opportunities for children?” For example, a male student who accidentally injures a classmate is expelled for this incident since he is seen as a problem child among teachers, and a female student whose grades are suffering mutters, “I really don’t want to go to vocational school.” I am not very familiar with France’s educational system, but it seems that vocational school is a hopeless dead-end for students that are sent there because of their bad grades.

Finally, why did this undramatic, documentary-like, subdued production unanimously win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and receive overwhelming praise? This movie is not an exceptional movie, but I think it is because an important theme is depicted honestly and modestly. Any citizen watching this movie would have received some education so they are aware that education is important and that the education system is not perfect under the current conditions; but not many movies about education are made because it is not easy to make the educational problem into a dramatic movie. Occasionally, an exceptionally enthusiastic schoolteacher and their exceptional influence as a teacher may be dramatically depicted. Ordinary children and a professional teacher from poor neighborhoods in Paris were chosen from the audition to depict reality beyond the performance by actors. It was actually quite convincing.

This movie raises questions about education, and the main characters the child actors play in this movie should be problem children, but there is a hopeful twinkle in the eyes of the children appearing in this movie. Perhaps while they were involved in the making of this movie as main characters, they started to feel, “I didn’t know film making would be this fun!” or, “How joyful to become the lead role and use my own mind and heart!” Therefore, all the children playing problem children are cute. It may have been slightly unplanned by the director, but the twinkle of these children may be the reason for the refreshing feeling left after watching the movie.

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Movie: Indigènes – Days of Glory (2006)

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There are a great number of war movies, but this movie offers a unique point of view unlike other movies. On the surface, this movie depicts the resistance and victory against the Nazi occupation in France during World War II, but it is not simply the victory of France–“we went, we killed, we won”; it also indirectly depicts other things sprouting at the time—the independence movement in French colonies and the injustice that followed their independence.

The original title—Indigènes—means “indigenous people.” In general, these are people who lived originally on the land, but become a minority by being pushed down by another race that comes and invades, and are put into the bottom social class. American Indians, Aboriginal Australians, and the Ainu in Japan are a few examples. There are many indigenous groups in the North Saharan Africa—the most well-known of which are the Berber people—and many races ruled over them. The Berbers were pastoral people and they were often put in the bottom social class in African society. However, since they were deeply loyal, brave, and weren’t adverse to traveling, many were used as skilled mercenaries by the ruling class. Most Berbers of Algeria and Morocco who were oppressed by Arabs in North Africa felt that France, the colonist country, treated Arabs and Berbers equally, so they thought of themselves as French, believed France was their homeland, and felt ardent patriotism for France. France organized the Free French Forces based on volunteer soldiers from North Africa to shift the balance against Germany. The Free French Forces consisted of Senegal draftees, the French Foreign Legion, Moroccans, Algerians, Tahitians, etc. This movie is the story of the Berbers who volunteered for the Free French Forces and fought bravely without fearing death.

Abdelkader is an educated man and is appointed as the head of the Berber soldiers due to his top performance on the military service examination. He had an ambition to advance in the French military by studying diligently and earning merits from battle. He mediates between soldiers from an impartial standpoint and advocates for solidarity across cultures among the troops. His efforts are completely ignored, though, and a French Algerian is promoted instead of him. Though feeling humiliated, he doesn’t lose his loyalty to the French military.

Sergeant Martinez, just because he is a French Algerian, is promoted and commands the Algerian Arab troops, but he is not very good at leading the troops rationally and easily becomes violent when he is angry. He even admits to himself that Abdelkader’s leadership was superior to his own. Although he is regarded as French, his mother is in fact Arab—something he doesn’t want others to know.

Saïd is from the poorest area among Berbers. His mother would rather stop her son from volunteering and starve to death than receive the cash bonus and pension from dispatching her son with the troops, but his mother can’t keep him from volunteering and he goes to war to protect France because of his genuine patriotic feelings. Sergeant Martinez notices Saïd’s simple-minded, loyal nature that is without ambition, and so treats Saïd favorably.

Yassir, in order to earn the money to pay for his younger brother’s marriage, enlists with his younger brother. He loves his younger brother and he preaches that a man must always be honest and do the right thing.

Messaoud is a talented marksman and is given the special duty of being a sniper by Sergeant Martinez. He dreams of excelling on the battlefield, becoming a hero for his meritorious service, falling in love with a French woman attracted to his fame, marrying her, and settling down in France when the war is over.

Their first mission is to capture a fortress from Germany in Provence in southern France. The Berber unit had to walk in front on the mountain trail, completely exposed to the enemy. While the unit is being fired at by the German army, the French soldiers hiding behind the Berbers figure out where the German soldiers are hiding and start to attack the German soldiers. The battle ends with an overwhelming victory for the French forces, but this is the first experience that makes the Berber soldiers realize that they will be given the most dangerous assignments.

As the war becomes a stalemate and there are orders for the French military to return home, the Berber soldiers are delighted, but the orders to return only apply to French men; soldiers of the Free French Forces are not allowed to return and a pessimistic feeling begins to drift into the unit.

The most difficult order given to the Free French Forces is to do as much damage to the German army as possible until the main French army and American army arrive in order to capture Colmar in Alsace under Nazi occupation. Sergeant Martinez along with another commanding officer of a small unit are assigned to this dangerous mission; the soldiers under his command—Abdelkader, Saïd, Yassir and his younger brother, and Messaoud—also participate in hopes of honor and a reward. However, most of the unit dies from a bomb placed at the entrance to the German-occupied territory and Sergeant Martinez is seriously injured. Yassir, losing his younger brother, grieves that there is no point anymore of him being here; Abdelkader leads the survivors, Saïd, Yassir, and Messaoud, to a village in Alsace and they are welcomed by the villagers. However, in an intense battle with the German army, Saïd tries to protect the seriously injured Sergeant Martinez, but both are killed by the German army; Yassir and Messaoud also die in action.

This is called the Battle at Colmar Pocket. In those days, the Alsace-Lorraine district which contained Colmar was Germany territory and was a key location that guarded the bridge over the Rhine River. After an intense battle, the French and American armies succeeded in forcing the German army to retreat. The Allies had 21,000 casualties while the German army had 38,000. The Allies succeeded in crossing the Rhine River and hereby successfully started a full-scale invasion of German territory.

Abdelkader, the lone survivor, joins the French military in Colmar, but his existence as well as those of his comrades who died are completely ignored. No one thinks about the Berber soldiers that died while the victory of the French unit who only came later is praised.

Soldiers that went to war were guaranteed lifetime pension, and this was one of the motives for volunteering. However, when the struggle for independence in Algeria intensified in 1959, the French government decided to no longer pay the pensions for soldiers from French colonies that participated in the French military. Because Algeria was to eventually become independent from France, the French military did not feel it was necessary to pay money to Algerians of a different country. This movie ends with Abdelkader, 60 years after the battle at Alsace, visiting the gravesite of the soldiers who died in action on this land.

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Movie: Les Misérables (2012)

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The movie rendition of the hit musical based on Victor Hugo’s original story was quite good. The movie used computer graphics well to reproduce the streets of Paris during that time—complete with the dirty, crooked teeth and stained clothing of the characters—and the beautiful cinematography provides a fresh angle to the familiar story. Furthermore, the talented actors’ singing is heartfelt. Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and the rest of the cast sing very well, but also capture the darkness of the music, which makes this more than just a rehashing of a simple musical. Les Misérables begins after Napoleon I’s downfall in 1815 with Jean Valjean’s release from prison; before passing away in 1833, Jean Valjean witnesses the failed June Rebellion in 1832 that happens after the July Revolution in 1830.

Marius, the man who becomes the husband of Jean Valjean’s adopted daughter Cosette, is said to be the projection of author Victor Hugo, but I don’t understand this Marius very well. Marius wishes to defy his affluent grandfather by participating in the June Rebellion, but while all of his comrades died together in the revolt, Marius is rescued by Jean Valjean and he ends up marrying Cosette with a luxurious wedding supported by his grandfather and they live happily ever after. So what does it say about Victor Hugo that he is supposedly the model for the character of Marius? Which part of him is being projected?

Oppressed in the Bourbon era by noble aristocrats and clergymen, the bourgeoisie spearheaded people into a revolt, attacking the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789 and starting the French Revolution. Radical views spread and upon the execution of Louis XVI in 1792, the first republican form of government and its Reign of Terror arrived. Within this chaos, it was Napoleon Bonaparte that captured the spirit of the people and, after the coup d’etat of Brumaire in 1799, he established the autocratic Consulate. In 1804, Napoleon established an imperial system (the First Empire of France).

Victor Hugo was born in 1802, his father an officer in Napoleon’s army and his mother an ardent royalist. As a matter of course, there was a lot of discord between his parents, which cast a dark shadow on his youth. Because his parents were separated, Victor Hugo would spend most of his early childhood with his mother. When Napoleon fell in 1814, Victor’s father lost his status as a Spanish aristocrat and was demoted from being the commander of his squadron.

After the downfall of Napoleon, the other countries denied the French Revolution at the Congress of Vienna and restored the pre-revolution condition of France so as to maintain the balance of power between all the large powers. The Congress of Vienna, after all, was the way for the five Great Powers of Europe–Britain, Germany (Austria and Germany), France, Italy (and Vatican), and Russia –to come together and decide the relations of these powers , until World War II. Louis XVIII, the younger brother of Louis XVI, succeeded the throne as the next king of France. Louis XVIII had fled France at the height of the French Revolution and taken refuge in Germany, moving from place to place and condemning the French Republic. When Napoleon briefly escaped from his exile in Elba in 1815, Louis XVIII fled France again, but returned to the throne after Napoleon fell for the last time. After Louis XVIII died, his younger brother Charles X (he, like his older brother Louis XVIII, had abandoned Louis XVI in France and taken refuge in London after the French Revolution broke out) succeeded the throne and further instituted reactionary policies, such as compensation for exiled aristocrats.

This period of Bourbon restoration was the time Victor Hugo was concentrated on his family. After his mother passed away in 1821, he married his childhood friend Adèle Foucher (who is said to be the model for Cosette) and they had their first son in 1823 and their first daughter in 1824. In 1825, Hugo received the highest decoration in France—Legion d’honneur—gaining associate aristocrat status. Also, his relationship with his father, which had been estranged throughout his childhood, improved. Hugo’s understanding of Napoleon, who he had hated before, increased and he gradually began to respect Napoleon. Hugo had his second son in 1826, his third son in 1828, and his second daughter in 1830. He had pension from Louis XVIII allowing him to live a good and affluent life, but his success as a writer had already begun.

Charles X carried out reactionary politics, limiting freedom of speech, refusing most bourgeois the right to vote, and not defending the interest of the middleclass bourgeoisie, so intellectuals and the poor working-class grew unsatisfied. In addition, Charles X initiated an invasion of Algeria which resulted in political disgrace and debt. His repeated poor political decisions caused the bourgeoisie to lead a revolution in July in 1830. Victor Hugo was a conservative aristocrat, but on the other hand, he was a well-respected intellectual and he did not oppose the July Revolution; the leaders of the Revolution were essayists and close friends of his and Hugo secretly thought Charles X an incompetent king. During the July Revolution, even the government troops whose job it was to suppress the revolution didn’t have the will to fight against the revolutionary army, thus Charles X had to employ mercenary soldiers from foreign countries in a hurry. The July Revolution in France began on July 27, 1830 and went until the 29th, lasting only 3 days. This revolution caused Charles X to flee France; Louis-Philippe, a distant relative of the Bourbons and known for his liberalism, was crowned and established a constitutional monarchy (July Monarchy). Louis-Philippe lived in the United States from 1797 to 1799 and experienced the American Revolution, thus the public had high expectations for him.

Louis-Philippe was very popular with the bourgeoisie. Victor Hugo also thought highly of the king saying something to the effect of, “He is the perfect king who is superior in all ways,” and in 1845, Hugo was awarded the rank of viscount by Louis-Philippe. Because of his position as a noble, he began to show interest in politics. Hugo believed the July Monarchy resembled an ideal system of government where intellectuals support a wise monarch, such as Louis-Philippe.

However, there is a decisive difference between Victor Hugo and Marius. Marius was a poor lawyer and a member of the Republican secret society Friends of the ABC. Bourgeois in origins, his mother died when he was a child and his maternal grandfather raised him; when he was 17 years old, sparked by the death of his father who worked with Napoleon, Marius devoted himself to Bonapartism and ran away from his grandfather who supported the restoration of the monarchy. Marius of Les Misérables did not participate in the July Revolution, but the June Rebellion two years later. The June Rebellion (1832) was made of more radical students and laborers and was suppressed in only two days.
The political dynamics in France gradually switched to bourgeoisie versus workers. In 1848, the workers and peasants came together in a revolution in February; Louis-Philippe abdicated and fled to Great Britain, marking the end of the July Monarchy. With the abolishment of the monarchy, the constitution was established in 1848 and France shifted to a republican form of government (the Second Republic). In June of this year, laborers were again invoked to rise up in revolt in the June Days Uprising, not to be confused with the June Rebellion of 1832. Eventually, a presidential election was carried out in November where Napoleon’s nephew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was elected as president. After that, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself emperor (Napoleon III) and in 1852, France started its second imperial government.

Even after Louis-Philippe took refuge in Great Britain, Victor Hugo stubbornly advocated for the young adopted grandson of Louis-Philippe in Paris for the throne. The Second Republic gradually became a dictatorship under Napoleon III, who viewed Hugo as an enemy. After the coup by Napoleon III in 1851, Hugo, fearing for his life, took refuge in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, where he spread criticisms of Napoleon III. However, the hand of oppression spread to Belgium so Hugo decided to flee further to the remote island of Great Britain. At this time, he began to record the failure of the June Rebellion in his book Les Misérables, which would later become a best-seller across the world.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, which ended in a crushing defeat for France and Napoleon III was taken as a prisoner of war by the Prussian states. Because of this, Hugo was determined to return to France. After 19 years, he would step on the soil of his motherland and be welcomed by the people of France as a world-renowned literary master and national hero.

In order to get the Franco-Prussian War under control, a provisional government was established and France accepted a humiliating peace treaty proposed by German Chancellor Bismarck. Because of this, the people of France flew into a rage, rose in revolt, and formed the Paris Commune, which professed itself to be a socialist government. This Commune’s social policy included better working conditions and it is said to be the world’s first socialist administration, but the leaders of the Paris Commune were unable to resolve internal conflict and were suppressed immediately by government troops. Many members of the commune were shot down and executed by the military. Gaining political stability in France was used as justification for the suppression of the Paris Commune.

Nineteenth century in Europe was defined by royalist factions, the bourgeoisie playing a central role in republican states, military power, and revolts by armed laborer/proletariat forces that were influenced by Marxism—all of which was part of class struggle and the cycle of ideological strife. Hugo aimed for a political system with a progressive monarch supported by a wise bourgeoisie, a rational constitution, and a general election. This political system is similar to one that Great Britain sought and the July Monarchy that was established after the sacrifice of the July Revolution. However, after the time Hugo spent in exile, his political insights deepened. He felt as if in order to save his country, he must rescue “les misérables” (everybody in poverty), the people who are suffering from grave poverty. Therefore, depicting the darkness of the June Rebellion adds depth to Les Misérables, instead of just the mere rosy glory of the July Revolution.

Hugo passed away at 84 years of age in Paris on May 22, 1885 and was buried with honor in the Pantheon as a national hero and literary master.

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