ShareThisConsidering that it was one of the epochal events in world history, the French Revolution has been somewhat neglected by filmmakers. For the most part, it has either been portrayed negatively in 1930s costume dramas, usually based on famous novels, such as "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Marie Antoinette," or made an object of farce in movies from the 1970s and '80s such as "Start the Revolution Without Me" and Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part I." A serious, pro-revolutionary film like Jean Renoir's late-'30s "La Marseillaise" remains a distinct exception.
That's one of the reasons why Polish director's Andrzej Wajda's "Danton," from 1983, stands out. Released on DVD this week by the Criterion Collection (two discs, $39.95, not rated), this French-Polish co-production explores the political dispute among the revolutionary Jacobins in the spring of 1794. The film personifies the struggle in terms of the arguments between Georges Danton (played by Gerard Depardieu), a moderate among the revolutionaries, and Maximilien Robespierre (Polish actor Wojciech Pszoniak), a radical.
Yet "Danton" is also of interest because it can be viewed as making a statement about two other revolutions -- the Russian Revolution and the Polish Solidarity movement, a revolt led by shipyard workers in Gdansk, which opposed the repressive nature of the ruling Polish Communist Party.
For those who aren't up on their French history, the Revolution that began in 1789 had five years later become more democratic, more radical and more repressive. Faced with internal enemies and foreign armies trying to overthrow the revolutionary government, in what became known as the "Reign of Terror" the revolutionaries began arresting and executing remnants of the dethroned monarchy (in particular, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette), moderates and various dissenting factions.
Though Danton supported the earliest repressive measures in defense of the revolution, such as the creation of the Committee of Public Safety and the Revolutionary Tribunal, by early 1794 he believed that the Revolution had gone too far. His main opponent was his old friend and fellow revolutionary, Robespierre.
Wajda's "Danton" was based on a 1931 play, "The Danton Affair," by a Polish communist named Stanislawa Przybyszewska, and, according to an essay on the film by Leonard Quart that is included with the DVD, the play took Robespierre's side. But when Wajda revived the play in the mid-1970s, he reversed course and made Danton the hero.
By 1980, when Wajda decided to make a film version of the play, Poland's Solidarity movement had emerged to challenge the communist government. But after martial law was declared in December 1981, Solidarity was outlawed and a military regime backed by the Soviet Union took over. Wajda and his film crew then relocated their entire production to France.
Although the link between the Danton-Robespierre dispute and the events in Poland is not made explicitly in "Danton," it is impossible to view the film as anything other than a critique of the pitfalls of revolutionary upheaval and an attack on communist rule. Danton and his supporters passionately believe that the right of dissent is essential to any just society and that its suppression by the Robespierre-led Committee of Public Safety will doom the Revolution. The Revolution had begun to "devour its own children," Danton says.
In contrast, Robespierre believes that the Revolution must be protected at all costs if it is to withstand foreign invasion and continue to grow. "I'll stop at nothing to bring happiness to the people," he declares.
Depardieu, in a behind-the-scenes documentary included with the DVD, clearly recognizes the modern-day political implications of "Danton." The actor professes his strong support for Solidarity, his hostility toward the Soviet Union and martial law in Poland, and his belief that his film is "history with reference to the present day."
"Danton" makes some revealing departures from the historical record, as historian Robert Darnton shows in an excellent essay on the film in the book "Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies."
In a powerful scene, Robespierre criticizes the painter Jacques-Louis David for including one of Danton's allies, Fabre d'Eglantine, in a painting celebrating one of the earliest events in the Revolution, the Tennis Court Oath. In a bit of historical revisionism reminiscent of Stalin's removal of Trotsky and other Russian revolutionaries from photographs of earlier times, Robespierre demands that the painter erase the image of d'Eglantine.
But Darnton writes that this direct link between Robespierre and Stalin, a clear evocation of the assault on freedom and truth by both the French and Russian revolutions, never actually happened. The incident was invented by Wajda to help make his point.
Nevertheless, "Danton" remains a fascinating depiction of some crucial events in the French Revolution.
Spoken in French with English subtitles
Not rated
(brucedancis(at)comcast.net.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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