Danton

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VincentsGhost A masterful commentary on the meaning of freedom, done while Wajda was expelled from his home country of Poland by the Communist authorities. He shows the division in the French revolution between those who want to overthrow the king to put a more just government in place and those who want to overthrow the king to assume the king's power. As Lincoln is famously quoted, both sides act in the name of freedom. Only blemish is the film is done with the expectation of a knowledge of this time in French history. I myself did not have it and it was some work to sort out what was going on. But further research only made me appreciate it more. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/04/24 Full Review william d This movie lacks context. There is no exploration of what caused the rift between Danton and Robespierre, or what caused the formation of the Committees for Public Safety. What's left is a drama about the persecution of a political that the film makers strongly infer was unjustified, but don't explain why, Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review william k Gerard Depardieu is fully convincing as Danton in conflict with Robespierre in this accomplished, but quite demanding depiction of a decisive moment of the French Revolution, clearly evoking similar events in Poland at the time (although denied by the director). Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Tony S Great portrayal of two ex-colleague, now enemies. Robespierre and Danton marvelously played by Pszoniak and Depardieu. Their characters superbly written. With Robespierre, not being showed as a raving madmen but almost a tragic figure, who had lost sight of his ideals. Good visuals that invoke, surprisingly, sickness and dread of reign of terror. Dim lights, damp, dirty streets and visibly ill characters, suffering from fever and headaches. And what an excellent soundtrack, something out of horror film but perfectly fits this film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/10/21 Full Review Audience Member When did the French Revolution end? With the Insurrection of August 10th and the overthrowing of the monarchy, which would lead to the establishment of the First Republic? With the onset of the Reign of Terror, a betrayal of liberty in the name of law and order? With the Thermidorian Reaction and the swing back to counterrevolutionary conservatism? Can a revolution even end if its guiding principles never took root, if—as Mallet du Pan put it, though here put in the mouth of the titular Danton—"a l'exemple de Saturne, la révolution dévore ses enfants"? With obvious resonances with the politics of the present day, both the totalitarian regime in Poland of 1983 and the resurgence of autocratic fascism today, Wajda's somewhat overlong and longwinded period piece boils down the complexities of the Jacobin Terror into a character drama swinging violently between two representative antipodes at the culmination of the Revolution's dualistic drive between idealism and destruction. On the left there is the radical Robespierre, incorruptible and inflexible to the point of absolute despotism, egoless in his pursuit of revolutionary zeal even as he brings it to its logical end and breaking point, versus the more bourgeois Danton, human and corrupt yet hugely popular as an embodiment of the struggle for liberty, who would betray the letter of the law to preserve its spirit. Though Wajda's allegiances clearly lie with this version of Danton, so full of life even as he heads toward death compared to the coldly calculating if not quite bloodthirsty Robespierre, the conflict at the heart of the Revolution is ultimately an aporia, with neither of these figures able to offer a way out of the deadlock that will lead both to the guillotine. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review s r A recreation of the time period of French growing pains with freedom and independence. Good acting, but some very poignant themes about legitimacy of government, power and freedoms. It was unlike any other film I have seen in that regard. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Danton

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