Danton

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Film Description

Gerard Depardieu takes the title role in this dramatic recounting of the power struggle between the leading figures of the French revolution, Danton and Robespierre. With the new republic in place Robespierre has begun his Reign of Terror, flushing out any dissenting voices and sending them to guillotine. Danton returns to Paris after his self-imposed exile to call an end to the bloodshed, but in doing so makes a dangerous enemy of his former ally.

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Review by Barry Forshaw on 26th January 2006

Legendary director Andrzej Wajda’s award-winning Danton features Gérard Depardieu in one of his most acclaimed roles. Oscar winning Polish filmmaker Wajda fled his homeland and relocated to France to direct this powerful story about the ethical boundaries of power and leadership. Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought in the French Revolution, but by 1793 with the new republic in place, Robespierre heads the ‘Committee for Public Safety’ and has begun his ‘Reign of Terror’, flushing out any dissenting voices and sending them to Guillotine. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, returns to Paris after his self-imposed exile to call an end to the bloodshed, but in doing so makes a dangerous enemy of his former ally.

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Review by David Parkinson on 26th January 2006

Andrzej Wajda originally intended to shoot this adaptation of Stanislawa Przybyszewska's play, The Danton Affair, in Poland, but the imposition of martial law in December 1981 meant that gatherings of more than three people were outlawed and production relocated to Paris. However, the director, who had already caught the spirit of a nation in flux in Man of Marble and Man of Iron, managed to bring Gérard Depardieu to Warsaw for a day to show him the imposing force of the masses on the verge of exhaustion, but still wholly committed to the cause.
Wajda remains convinced that the scenes his star witnessed in the meeting hall of Mazowsze Region headquarters shaped his remarkable performance as Georges Danton, the Revolutionary leader who paid with his life in 1794 for questioning Robespierre's decision to continue the Reign of Terror while France faced the dual threat of economic collapse and foreign invasion.
For all its period authenticity, this fiercely intelligent political drama also had a contemporary purpose as an allegory of Solidarity's struggle with the Jaruzelski regime. 25 years later, its insights into politicians and people power have lost none of their pertinence.

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Article - "Gérard Depardieu-From Jacques the Lad to...? " by David Parkinson
Thursday 5th June 2008

Gérard Depardieu dominates French cinema as no one since Jean Gabin. His achievement is all the more remarkable, however, for the obstacles he has had to overcome in the 60 often traumatic years since he was born on 27 December 1948.

Raised in the Berry town...  View article in full

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This film is part of the following Customer Film Lists

Political films by Abhijeet Ranadive

These films discuss the politics of their times - sometimes in a very overt fashion that may be termed propaganda, but many of them express a political point of view through a human journey - the journey that the protagonists go through in the film.

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