Film Review: J'accuse (1938)

J’accuse (1919), a film by Abel Gance, is considered one of the classics of French silent cinema, one of the first major films to deal with the Great War and one of the first major anti-war films. Heavily inspired by Gance’s own experiences in the trenches and partially made while the war was still raging, it was a very personal affair for its creator. As with many of his great films, Gance returned to it for years to re-edit it and create many different versions. In 1938 he went further and made an eponymous sound remake, this time dealing not only with the First World War but with another world war that was about to begin.

The plot begins in 1918 at the Western Front near Verdun, where a French Army unit includes two men with very personal reasons to hate each other – François Laurin (played by Marcel Delaître), who discovers that his wife Edith (played by Line Noro) is being romantically pursued by his war comrade Jean Diaz (played by Victor Francen). Both men, however, choose to forego their rivalry for the sake of survival. Diaz has proven to be a capable soldier, managing to survive a patrol in no man’s land – a task which means almost certain death. When another group of 12 soldiers, including Laurin, is sent on another such suicidal mission, Diaz, who has failed to talk his superior officer Henri Chimay (played by Jean-Max) into postponing it, volunteers to replace another soldier. Laurin and Diaz are the only ones to return from the patrol, but are gravely wounded, with Laurin soon succumbing to his injuries. To make things even more tragic, the patrol’s return coincided with the Armistice, meaning that the lives of 11 men were sacrificed for nothing.

Much affected by survivor’s guilt, Diaz swears that he will do anything to ensure that his comrades' lives were not lost in vain and that the war he took part in is indeed the last. He neglects Edith, and twenty years later he catches the attention of her daughter, Helene (played by Renée Devillers). In an attempt to stop war, he spends years in his workshop developing “steel glass”, an impenetrable armour. But, much to his displeasure, Chimay, who is now a wealthy and politically connected industrialist, decides to sell his invention to the French government as an offensive weapon. On the eve of the new war, Diaz visits the graveyard at Verdun and calls upon his fallen comrades to help him stop it.

Made almost two decades after the original, Gance’s remake of his work benefited from the passage of time. Not only did Gance get the opportunity to add sound, but his anti-war message also became more focused after years of contemplation. There is no patriotic celebration of French heroism nor condemnation of German barbarity. For Gance, war is pointless and stupid, best seen at the beginning when a dozen men are sent to certain death on a mission that has lost all meaning and sense. The only way for the Great War to make sense is to make that war the last so future generations would not have to suffer; that meant that any future war must be avoided at all costs.

J’accuse was released in cinemas at the time of the Munich Agreement and in many ways reflected the general public sentiment in France and other Western countries that supported it. As in the first film, Gance wore his convictions on his sleeve. But his passion this time was not matched by an adequate display of talent. The 1938 version had serious conceptual issues and was in many ways rough around the edges. The best segment is the very beginning, when we are introduced to life in the trenches and the futility of war; Gance, however, compromises his vision by having newly shot scenes mixed with stock footage and material he had made twenty years earlier. That combination makes J’accuse look even more artificial. The relationship between Diaz and Edith, which was the cornerstone of the first film, is a mere afterthought in this one, and the melodramatic subplot featuring Helene is completely undeveloped, as is Diaz’s peace-creating wonder weapon. Victor Francen plays the guilt-burdened and deeply frustrated protagonist with great passion, but his performance at times strays into overacting.

Gance may have been aware that the new film might not be as powerful as the first one, so he tries to repeat one of his most memorable scenes – the macabre “March of the Dead” – near the end. The scene, in which, again, real Great War veterans, many of them disfigured, appear as ghosts, does not have the same impact because it is overlong and has too much pathos, while the repetitive scenes of the public reacting to the resurrected soldiers with mass panic make J’accuse longer than it should have been.

Gance’s film later suffered from being made at the worst possible time and trying to finish its dark and depressive story on a positive note. In the original version, released in 1938, the ghost soldiers succeeded in their mission, stopped the next world war and inspired governments to embrace universal disarmament and world peace. This fairytale corresponded not only with Gance’s views, but also with the views of millions all over Europe who did not want to go to the trenches again. A year later, war nevertheless came and France was quickly overrun and, like most of the continent, occupied by Nazi Germany. After the war, France’s failure to defend itself was often blamed on the pacifist and anti-war sentiments espoused by the film. Because of that, Gance had to use another version with a somewhat bleaker ending that better corresponded with the events of the 1940s.

Regardless of which version of the 1938 film you prefer and despite many of its flaws, it is difficult not to conclude that Gance’s heart was ultimately in the right place.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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