Claude Chabrol's excellent film documents the alternate history that the Vichy government, in collaboration with the Germans, proposed to the French from 1940-1944 via newsreels. A sinister undertaking, the puppet government of Petain attempted to show the collaboration with Germany as a good thing for France and a good thing for the French people. Meanwhile, men were being shipped off to work in German factories, French Jews were deported to concentration camps, and everyday essentials (like food and electricity) were being denied. This is a brilliant look at a time that is so outré, it's hard to believe it's such recent history. Each fake newsreel is more outrageous than the next, from phony unemployment numbers to propaganda cartoons featuring American icons like Mickey Mouse & Popeye. Chabrol offers no overt opinion and lets the footage speak for itself. An astounding, one- of-kind look at the German occupation.
Review of The Eye of Vichy
