9Apr09

The Politics of History

Andrzej Wajda’s Danton engages the subject of the French Revolution in a daring way. The Polish director took a very dim view of the events, a rather controversial perspective in France, where it was made, in 1983. In interviews on our recent DVD release, both Wajda and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière talk about reaction to the film among contemporary French, all the way up to then Prime Minister François Mitterrand. We were still curious about this ongoing argument, so we invited Edward Berenson, professor of history at New York University, to stop by the office recently to explain how the film fits into the changing landscape of thinking about the revolution, and especially, the Terror.

Danton_w160

Danton

Andrzej Wajda

1983

136 min

Color

1.66:1

Categories: Video

1 Comments

Fri 10 Apr at 08:27 PM

Jay

This is a must see for history and art, especially the exciting dramatizations, depictions of talented actors and inspired screenwriting, and especially the little known and appreciated, France’s greatest artist of all time—Jacques-Louis David.

Simon Schama’s Power of Art—
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887235/

Publisher: British Broadcasting Corporation,
Pub date: 2007.
Pages: 3 videodiscs (400 min.) :
ISBN: 1419851853

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