Reviews

Two men are facing one another. One, a monk, thinks that South-American Indians are human beings, and wants their slaughtering to end. The other, an official philosopher, thinks - or pretends to think - they are not quite human and hence can legitimately be killed or used as slaves, in order to develop the wealth and power of the Spanish crown. In the middle, a legate of the Pope has the heavy, risky task of deciding who is right. This "Controverse" is built like a boxing fight, where words and proofs would replace fists. Gradually, the spectator is taken into this fight, forced to understand both fighters' reasons and convictions. No one is the villain : one is right (according to our modern convictions), one is wrong, but both have good reasons to have their ideas and fight for them. The moral requirements are opposed to the political ones. Philosophically, it is a good example of what Max Weber called "conviction ethic" and "responsability ethic" in his famous articles about scientist and politician. But this movie just puts into action, it makes it vivid and thrilling. In addition, the cast is just great : Jean-Pierre Marielle, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Jean Carmet in the main roles add a wonderful credibility to the story. A film much, much worth seeing !

This is a great "realist" movie. It's based upon a true story and wonderfully highlights the hopes, despair, fear and fraternity of workers during a strike in a small factory, as well as the lights and shadows of a political negotiation.

A textile factory is suddenly closed, when the boss vanishes while it appears that the management has been a total failure. Close-out : 153 workers are likely to be thrown away. They just refuse. The factory contains various stocks of dangerous stuff, among which 54 tons of a highly-explosive material. The workers warn that if they are not helped anyhow, by any official mean, they will destroy the factory - and the whole city. A senior syndicalist joins them, to help them organize the strike and run the negotiation. Based on a true story (The Cellatex factory case in Givet, France, in the late 90's), this movie is built on a very realistic "parti-pris" : short scenes, almost no music, close-up, everyday language... But every scene, every line would provide us with a piece of information about who are these men and women, why they fight, what they hope and fear... The main character, the syndicalist (Bernard-Pierre Donadieu) is just great, wonderfully credible in the position of a men torn between his understanding of the desperate workers and his awareness of the necessity of compromising. All in all, a great TV movie. Bravo !

A very nice and worth-seeing movie. It 's a "first love" story, but the core is about the conflict between the dreams and illusions of adolescence opposed to the compromises and frustrations of mature age. The original title was "The Profanation" ; and definitely the story is how a pure love between young boy and girl will be "profanated", destroyed by parents whose rules and morality cannot accept (in the France of the 60's) that "too young" fellows might have a love affair and sleep together. The whole film is very sensitive and delicate, opposing the "square" parents of the boy (Michel Galabru is just great) to the girl's mother, a divorced woman whose freedom and open-mind are very badly regarded by the neighborhood. There is also a very fine relationship between the young boy and his elder brother, a press photograph who will betray his dreams and compromise with "real life" in a rather tough way. An excellent surprise, since I don't think that either the actors nor the director became particularly known. The soundtrack by French artist Maxime Le Forestier is worth listening, too.