Nearly 20 years after releasing his acclaimed 1919 anti-war drama J'Accuse, which was produced during the final days of the war, Abel Gance returned with a new take on the story as the drumbeat of war was once again pounding through Europe. This 1938 version begins in the heat of battle in World War I as Jean Diaz (Victor Francen), a survivor of a previous war, watches his fellow soldiers die and vows never to let it happen again. Jean returns to his job at a glassworks and—with the blessing of the company owner—moves his workshop to the cemetery at Verdun, where he becomes obsessive and erratic, plunging himself into experimentation and research designed to invent something that will prevent future war. The story spans two decades and becomes entangled in romantic subplots before a betrayal sends the film into its provocative finale. While there is melodramatic exaggeration in the acting and storylines, Gance also draws on a wide gamut of cinematic techniques: he fills the war scenes of the first act with documentary battle footage and a sustained soundtrack of mortars and gunfire, contrasts the grueling ordeal with symbolic imagery, splashes headlines across the screen, and reworks the ghostly march of the war dead from the original version into a more horrific vein with Jean raising them like a mad high priest. The result is decidedly uneven but also passionate and thought-provoking. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)
J'Accuse
Olive, 120 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: $29.99 Volume 32, Issue 2
J'Accuse
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