What is a truly great man?
The ambitions of Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were built of the sacrifice of millions of people. And with pitifully little to show in the aftermath. The ambition of Charles de Gaulle, however, was just to rescue his homeland France from its shattering moral and military collapse in 1940 to its present restored eminence by the time of his voluntary retirement in 1969.
The steady decline of France from Napoleonic glory to the decadent surrender of Petain and Vichy stimulated De Gaulle, a minor officer and voice out large at the time, to take refuge in London and, with just a few supporters, to emerge in 1944 as the undisputed personification of France. How did he do it? This is then the subject of the new movie on him with the title The Battle of de Gaulle of which the first part is released in June.
Julian Jackson's book "A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle" beforehand written, gives a terrific portrait of De Gaulle's bloody-minded, intransigent and at times self-defeating promotion of France as a great nation is fascinating and very well written. He towered like the vast granite dolmen that he physically resembled over his contemporaries and, by the end, succeeded in establishing the 5th Republic (which endures), freeing Algeria and rebutting communism.
The recent French movie that was directed by Antonin Baudry and divided into two chapters, respectively subtitled "The Iron Age" and "I Write Your Name", is an adaptation of parts of Jackson's book. It revisits De Gaulle's life between May 1940 (Battle of Montcornet) and 1944 (Liberation of Paris), the first chapter focusing on the period 1940-1942 and the second on the years 1943-1944. In short, it's a sweeping two-part historical saga and geopolitical thriller that plunges the audience into the decisive hours of World War II through the eyes of General Charles de Gaulle and the men and women who refused to surrender when the French nation collapsed.
June 1940. France collapses and signs the armistice. In the midst of the chaos, one man refuses to give up. Alone against all odds, this unknown general flees to London to save what remains of freedom. Without an army, without support, without hope. But with an irrational conviction: France, his France, has not laid down its arms. Taking the ultimate gamble, he seeks to convince the world that the battle for France is neither over nor lost. Reality, however, is unshakeable and seems determined to prove him wrong. Yet, little by little, resistance fighters, rebellious students, and determined soldiers rise up in England, France, and Africa to join the cause.
In only six weeks time in the early summer of 1940, France was over-run by German troops and quickly surrendered. The French government of Marshal Pétain sued for peace and signed an armistice. One little-known junior French general though, the most junior general in the French Army at the time, refuses to accept defeat and makes his way to England. On 18 June he spoke to his compatriots over the BBC, urging them to rally to him in London. 'Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.' At that moment, Charles de Gaulle entered into history.
For the rest of the war, De Gaulle frequently bit the hand that fed him. He insisted on being treated as the true embodiment of France, and quarrelled violently with Churchill and Roosevelt. He was prickly, stubborn, aloof and self-contained. But through sheer force of personality and bloody-mindedness he managed to have France recognised as one of the victorious Allies, occupying its own zone in defeated Germany. For ten years after 1958 he was President of France's Fifth Republic, which he created and which endures to this day
[media=https://youtu.be/TXRfaZ6QZ78]
[media=https://youtu.be/DYa5pQPflcY]
[media=https://youtu.be/HQghr9JcyW4]
The steady decline of France from Napoleonic glory to the decadent surrender of Petain and Vichy stimulated De Gaulle, a minor officer and voice out large at the time, to take refuge in London and, with just a few supporters, to emerge in 1944 as the undisputed personification of France. How did he do it? This is then the subject of the new movie on him with the title The Battle of de Gaulle of which the first part is released in June.
Julian Jackson's book "A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle" beforehand written, gives a terrific portrait of De Gaulle's bloody-minded, intransigent and at times self-defeating promotion of France as a great nation is fascinating and very well written. He towered like the vast granite dolmen that he physically resembled over his contemporaries and, by the end, succeeded in establishing the 5th Republic (which endures), freeing Algeria and rebutting communism.
The recent French movie that was directed by Antonin Baudry and divided into two chapters, respectively subtitled "The Iron Age" and "I Write Your Name", is an adaptation of parts of Jackson's book. It revisits De Gaulle's life between May 1940 (Battle of Montcornet) and 1944 (Liberation of Paris), the first chapter focusing on the period 1940-1942 and the second on the years 1943-1944. In short, it's a sweeping two-part historical saga and geopolitical thriller that plunges the audience into the decisive hours of World War II through the eyes of General Charles de Gaulle and the men and women who refused to surrender when the French nation collapsed.
June 1940. France collapses and signs the armistice. In the midst of the chaos, one man refuses to give up. Alone against all odds, this unknown general flees to London to save what remains of freedom. Without an army, without support, without hope. But with an irrational conviction: France, his France, has not laid down its arms. Taking the ultimate gamble, he seeks to convince the world that the battle for France is neither over nor lost. Reality, however, is unshakeable and seems determined to prove him wrong. Yet, little by little, resistance fighters, rebellious students, and determined soldiers rise up in England, France, and Africa to join the cause.
In only six weeks time in the early summer of 1940, France was over-run by German troops and quickly surrendered. The French government of Marshal Pétain sued for peace and signed an armistice. One little-known junior French general though, the most junior general in the French Army at the time, refuses to accept defeat and makes his way to England. On 18 June he spoke to his compatriots over the BBC, urging them to rally to him in London. 'Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.' At that moment, Charles de Gaulle entered into history.
For the rest of the war, De Gaulle frequently bit the hand that fed him. He insisted on being treated as the true embodiment of France, and quarrelled violently with Churchill and Roosevelt. He was prickly, stubborn, aloof and self-contained. But through sheer force of personality and bloody-mindedness he managed to have France recognised as one of the victorious Allies, occupying its own zone in defeated Germany. For ten years after 1958 he was President of France's Fifth Republic, which he created and which endures to this day
[media=https://youtu.be/TXRfaZ6QZ78]
[media=https://youtu.be/DYa5pQPflcY]
[media=https://youtu.be/HQghr9JcyW4]
