De Gaulle: Liberte

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A week after seeing "De Gaulle: Resistance", I was back at the same cinema to watch the sequel last night. Although it's probably best to think of the two films as being one really long one shown in two halves. Certainly it would be best to watch the first one before watching the second, because "Liberte" drops you straight into the action without recapping who the characters are or what motivates them. "Liberte" covers the period from early 1943 to late 1944, with particular reference to the crucial North African campaign, resistance activity in occupied France and the efforts by De Gaulle and his supporters to establish themselves as the legitimate French authority. At the start of the film, the assassinated Admiral Darlan has been replaced by General Giraud, another former Vichyist officer who the Americans seem to have regarded as a French leader who they could control. Crucially, Giraud was in command of the former Vichy regime's army in Africa, which was bigger than the Free French forces under De Gaulle's command. Unfortunately, Giraud's government in Algiers carried on some of the Vichy regime's policies, including arresting Gaullists and antisemitic policies. While this is going on, Free French forces led by the enterprising General Le Clerc, having secured the Central African colonies, were driving up into North Africa to link up with the British. The battle scenes are very well shot, including a heroic action in which Le Clerc's troops fought to stop a breakthrough by a superior German Panzer group. Meanwhile, in occupied France, De Gaulle's representative "Rex" is trying to unite the various resistance organisations with pre-war politicians to form a National Council of Resistance, acknowledging the leadership of De Gaulle. So we've got De Gaulle having to cope with American attempts to replace him with a puppet, and depending on Le Clerc's victory to buck up morale, as well as support from within France to give his Free French government in exile the legitimacy it needs. The characters are all played well. De Gaullle himself is enigmatic - we see what he does, but don't get much insight into his thought processes. Churchill's more of an open book - a Francophile who genuinely sees De Gaulle as a kindrid spirit, but is also a cunning and ruthless political operator. Churchill himself feels obliged to be somewhat subservient to Roosevelt, who comes across as right sinister piece of work - plotting to sideline the Free French and impose a military occupation government on France after the war. De Gaulle does seem to have become a more canny political operator by then though, and as history shows he was able to outmanouver Roosevelt and assert France's independence. The emotional climax of the film is when Le Clerc's force fight their way into Paris to support the uprising that the local resistance had initiated. I personally found it really moving. As I said, you really have to treat these two films as one five hour epic. And even at that length, they only cover the basics of what was happening in Europe and Africa. Wars, especially global wars, are more complex than the film industry would have us believe. I think this was a good primer on the story of Free France, but it makes me want to learn more, and I'm sure the film takes some liberties with the facts. I think I'll start by ordering the book that this film was based on. But yes, it's good to see a World War 2 epic that gives a non-Hollywood point of view.