The story happened depicted a huge strike (700000 workers) in Belgium in Winter 1960-61 against the government of Gaston Eyskens who wanted to improve the public finances with drastic measures of austerity (la loi unique = the unitary law) which meant social regression for the people .It mainly concerned the Wallonia country ("the strike of the century") but those Flamants/Wallons rivalries might be lost on a non-Belgian audience .
The film introduces lots of black and white archive news films ;perhaps it would have been better to film the fiction in black and white too ,because it does not always together hang well as a plot ,particularly towards the end where the love-making scenes are a little irrelevant.
For the people outside Belgium , December 1960 was the Beaudouin/Fabiola wedding ; an old TV shows the newly weds.
But it was only that ; it was time to take to the street ;the unions were tepid , so it was a wildcat strike ,with big defeats .The government sent the army (which at the time was not only professional) and the cops and violent reprisals were taken against the demonstrators.
The fiction is uneven ; the best moments concern André (Philippe Leotard) and his father (Christian Barbier) who share a wonderful scene during Xmas night;with "silent night" playing softly in the background,the father talks about his past ,of the people 's little victories and big defeats : he seems tired , bitter , desillusioned ,but still helplessly hoping ; good support also comes from Ronny Coutteure ,as Albert ,who did believe in the struggle and would have a sad ending. The reactionary side of the Church is not passed over in silence ( the archbishop sides with the power-that be ,under the fallacious pretext that it generates violence .)
A question has been shelved:as the sadly missed Philippe Leotard was known and popular in France, why hadn't the movie been released in this country? It's sure easy to see why :the left party had risen to power in 1981; but,by 1983 ,austerity politic began ,and this year saw taxes as one had never seen before ; there were too many similarities between Begium 1960 and France 1983 and Thierry Michel's work came at the most awkward moment.
Now that the dust has settled , you should try and see his effort,for,in spite of obvious flaws,it bravely depicts a somber chapter in the history of his country.
