The Paris Commune of 1871 was a short-lived revolutionary government after the defeat of France against the Prussians. Later , its influence was important for the workers' right and the separation of the Church and the State ;women played a great part in these dark pages of the French history , some of them becoming famous (Louise Michel,whose name appeared relatively recently in history books); The "Versaillais" ,the troops of the Third Republic, reclaimed the power and the reprisals were ruthless: many rebels were massacred ,executed , imprisoned or deported .
It is René Richon's first film ,with minimum means ;most of the actors are not celebrities ,with a few exceptions (Philippe Noiret,Danielle Delorme , and older ones such as Henri Crémieux and Ginette Leclerc (last film) ).
The viewer waiting for an epic, a spectacular show of those bloody days won't get anything out of it. It is the depiction of the people of Montmartre where life goes on in spite of the shots they can hear in the distance. Humble people decide to take a rebel stand and they erect a barricade with all the stuff they can find ; they sketch out a political programme, but they find it hard to get on and it remains unmethodical .An ex-"enemy "joins them because the "International socialism " is a tree the roots of which grow in every country ;Eugène Pottier appears in the flesh and reads his poem "l'internationale" which would become an organising anthem :actually,it was written in June 1871 after the Commune was defeated and when Pottier was hiding in Paris ;but Noiret's impressive declamation is one of the great moments of the movie.
They are pacifist ,"they don't attack,they defend themselves ", one insurgent says,that's their first mistake ; a baby 's born and they want a baptism complete with godfather and godmother ; it predates what would become the "civil baptism" , frequent today ; one cannot call it "christening"because there's no priest and the "prayer" is none other than the "déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen" ,written in 1789, drawing on philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment; but a man contests the right of property, foundation of man's exploitation by man .
The movie lasts almost two hours ,only five minutes are given over to the fights, and with a remarkable economy of means ; the pictures of a painter are superbly used .
A film without a central character ,without the usual impossible love story, uncompromising , definitely off the beaten track of the French cinema of the seventies.
