Festival Archipel 2018, Genève - notice de Maudite soit la guerre (Machin)

D.R.

In concert

Vidéo

Directed by the Frenchman Alfred Machin, the hand-coloured film Maudite soit la guerre was released in cinemas in June 1914, barely more than one month before the beginning of the World War. The main cast members are Suzanne Berni, Baert, Albert Hendrickx, Fernand Crommelynck, Nadia D'Angely, Zizi Festerat, Gilberte Legrand and Willy Maury. In the context of a war between two imaginary powers, this fine, visionary melodrama evokes the rivalry between two pilots and shows combats with triplane gliders, biplane gliders and other airships. The film portrays a poignant story of impossible love but its main characteristic is that it is written in a boldly modern style. One of the scenes, where the young hero dies in combat, is shown twice, first as one of the documentary scenes with which the director, a Pathé

cameraman, made his debut, then told after the war to the dead soldier's young fiancée by the enemy officer who had led the assault against the mill where the young man had been hiding. The young woman suddenly discovers the full extent of the horror of this butchery; until then, the location of the combat, if it had been the place of death, was also a place of the noblest heroism. The 'clean' war of propaganda shown by the French media thus becomes a dirty war. For its time, the film is a large-scale production with extensive materials and financial resources made available to the French director. The Belgian army also supported the production, providing two infantry battalions (with pretend uniforms), an arsenal of military weapons, airships and planes, among other things.