J'accuse
Alternate Title: I Accuse
Directed by: Abel Gance
year: 1919 165 minutes
Abel Gance’s extraordinary breakthrough work is a WWI drama considered to be one of the most technically advanced films of the era and the first major pacifist film. It was referred to by Gance as “a human cry against the bellicose din of armies.” It stars Marise Dauvray as Edith, a woman who is unhappily married to an older man, François (Séverin-Mars), but is actually in love with a young poet, Jean Diaz (Romuald Joubé). Both Jean and François end up on the front lines of World War I while Edith is captured by German forces and suffers atrocities at the hands of the soldiers. Gance contrasts individual human suffering with the larger horrors of war (depicted with stark realism).
- Genres:
- Drama / Romantic Drama
- International / European / French
- Silent / Silent Drama
- Silent / Silent War
- War / WWI
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Reviews
Wonderfully original story and beautiful imagery. A must watch for any cinephile.
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