J’accuse aka An Officer and a Spy, written by Robert Harris (based on his original novel and Roman Polanski, directed by the latter - 10 out of 10

J’accuse aka An Officer and a Spy, written by Robert Harris (based on his original novel and Roman Polanski, directed by the latter

10 out of 10

This note is about the motion picture based on the novel by Robert Harris

For the undersigned, this film is Magnificent, though it has to be admitted that there is a just cause for those who demonstrate against the cowriter and director,  feminists and others, because they loath for good reason the director, Roman Polanski, author of a Magnum opera that is included in part in the History of Cinema – Chinatown - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/chinatown-written-by-robert-towne.html - Tess - http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/tess-based-on-novel-by-thomas-hardy.html  The Pianist - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-pianist-written-by-ronald-harwood.html - and a few other features helmed by the runaway are major cinematic master works, no matter how disputed and controversial the Polish creator might be.

We could think of Intellectuals, by the outstanding Paul Johnson, in which we learn about the real life, the character of famous writers like Jean Jacques Rousseau – who has abandoned many of his numerous children at the door of an orphanage, at a time when nine out of ten would die there – Ernest Hemingway, Henrik Ibsen and even Tolstoy and we are often appalled by what we find and then need to consider the fact that the chef d’oeuvre needs all the attention, disregarding the genius as a man, for otherwise we would eliminate so many of the masterpieces we now cherish…another recent example this cinephile has learned about is that of James Joyce, who had been helped by a lesbian publisher – the author of Fun Home where from I have learned this detail wants to underline this orientation, arguing furthermore that there is a boldness there and there are other cases presented in the excellent Fun Home – when others would not touch him with a pole, but once he would become a celebrated name, he would just cancel his original contract and never think to compensate the initial, courageous Mecena in any way…

The puzzle continues for this viewer, since once we pass by the flaws of the writer- director as a human being – if we do that – then we meet with quite astonishing reviews from critics who dismiss the motion picture as not quite remarkable, lacking pathos and emotion, being just a series of events presented with some craftsmanship, but not phenomenal…would this be to atone the eventual protesters, who might target the scribblers who could embrace Polanski, disgraced as he is by the label of pedophile and statutory rapist, or is it their honest, objective opinion?

Notwithstanding the opinion of most critics, this cinephile was elated, fascinated, overwhelmed by An Officer and a Spy, which for me is not just one of the best movies of this year – regardless of what happens with releases or production at the time of the Corona Virus – but it is As Good As It Gets and one of the best productions of the decade, solid, with wonderful performances, majestic screenplay, spectacular mis en scene – attention to detail is so extraordinary as to have horse manure on the streets of Paris, which was indeed omnipresent at the time when these animals were everywhere, before the automobile gained the upper hand…

The drama of Alfred Dreyfuss aka wonderful Louis Garrel is one of the most rewarding stories ever told, a real scandal that revealed the atrocious anti-Semitism within the French society – present elsewhere, perhaps almost everywhere – and forewarned, foretold what would happen during the World War II, when it was not just the Nazis that were to blame for the deportation of the Jews to the extermination camps and the ‘Final Solution’ – though they played the main role – but also the French collaborators, many ‘common people’ who have showed a deep hatred of the race, in this astounding An Officer and a Spy and later on…

No matter how vital the character of Dreyfuss is for his own story, it is Colonel Georges Picquart aka glorious Jean Dujardin, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for the magnificent part he has had in the celebrated The Artist, who towers over the plot, for he is the complicated man who starts from the rather abject position of showing antipathy for the Semitic race, only to show another, much brighter side, when he manifests a dangerous, absolute devotion to the truth and tries eventually to find what had happened in  the most famous or infamous court case in French history, that involving the Jewish Officer, Alfred Dreyfuss, who is accused and sentenced as a traitor, just because he belongs to a race that most of command of the French army and a large segments of the population despised and wanted punished…

The film opens with the impressive scene, one of so many, during which there is a parade, in the middle of hundreds of soldiers and officers, Alfred Dreyfuss is humiliated, all his garments, signs of rank and basic military activity are torn apart and then to pieces, with finally his sword being broken in two and thrown at his feet, while the innocent man keeps shouting that he is innocent,  ‘Vive la France’ and a mob gathered outside this unit also cries ‘death to the traitor’ and other insults, racial slurs and more…the prisoner is then sent to Devil’s Island – I think that is where the fortress is – and Georges Picquart is assigned the position where he finds details about the real Spy, one abominable man called Esterhazy, and then tries to act according to moral principles, expose the truth and eventually free the innocent Dreyfuss…

Alas, various generals – it looks like all – are in cahoots and once prove emerges that in fact the traitor is still free and they had sentenced the wrong man, their preoccupation is not to repair the injustice, but to ‘keep the image of the army immaculate’ – one of them would state at one of the ensuing new trials that if they doubt their integrity, the calumniators must take care because there would be no one to defend the dear country…words like that – and they start causing trouble for the hero, Colonel Georges Picquart, first with veiled expressions of concern, and explaining what evil would result from reopening the Dreyfuss affair, then ordering him to stop, finally forging documents and eventually trying to get rid of the ‘whistle blower’ – as a present day correspondent, the idiot Trump has tried much the same thing with the patriot who had exposed his betrayal of duty, when he tried to blackmail the Ukraine to get personal gain.

The generals send the Colonel Georges Picquart to ‘inspect’ garrisons in the East of the country – which away from Paris and any further complications for them – then to all sorts of other corners, only to try to have him killed in suicide missions in the North of Africa…fortunately, the truth slowly emerges in the press, there is the famous landmark, the article titled J’accuse, written by famous author Emil Zola, and then there are more trials and gradually and painfully the truth might emerge, contrary to the efforts made by the abhorrent heads of the ‘illustrious command’ of the French Army, with a rather complex, not the easy, common ‘happy end ‘conclusion to what is a fantastic movie…if you are to listen to this humble scribbler

Realini