Falco-8

Thoroughly mediocre Cable TV adaptation of Howard Fast's Revolutionary War novel dramatizing the events leading up to The Battle of Trenton. Jeff Daniels stars as General Washington and his measured portrayal of the General as a grimly determined and quietly desperate man is virtually the sole highlight of the film. He quite accurately presents us with Washington' flashes of anger and subtle lack of military self esteem while preserving the dignity and strength of character that made Washington such a superb leader of men.

However virtually all the remaining characters are written and played as stereotypes. In particular, Nigel Bennett {a fine character actor I must say} is given the thankless task of playing Horatio Gates as a comically sniveling villain.

As far as historical accuracy goes the film displays just about the average level of Hollywood's contempt for historical accuracy.

All in all, quite disappointing for any fan of historical drama.

Interesting little short subject has Welles playing himself during a break from his tortuous shooting of "Othello". While driving thru Dublin on a stormy night, Welles offers a lift to a man with car trouble, who then recounts to him a supernatural experiance he'd had on the same stretch of road years ago.

A very measured short subject {seasoned quite well by the always welcome timbre of Welles' narration} keeps you interested thru the climax of the passenger's flashback which is genuinely chilling.

Listen quickly for Welles inside joke on the trouble with distributors...mechanical and otherwise.

This film will be variously be described in critical summaries as either a historical drama or dramatic tragedy. It is neither. It is a profoundly unsettling ghost story, as luridly horrifying as any classic film of the supernatural. It left me contemplating the permanence of loss that fate can decree for an individual as well as with an image of death more chillingly authentic than anything I have ever experienced in film or print.

Our "ghost" is one Colonel Chabert, a seedy and unpleasant vagrant who materializes in the streets of post Napoleonic Paris to solicit the services of a deliciously clever lawyer to legally prove his identity and therefore claim the legacy of his once considerable estate. 9 years previously, the Colonel had been mistaken for dead after the bitter winter battle of Eylau in 1807. Stripped naked and buried in a mass grave with hundreds of others, Chabert managed to claw his way out of the grave and recovers with the aid of local villagers. Now, after nine years of poverty and semi lucidity {brought about at least partly by the grievous head wound he received which has never fully healed} he has returned to find his wife remarried and his fortune being used to keep her in comfort as well as financing her new husband's political ambitions. It is this bleak situation that has him seeking out a smoothly Machiavellian lawyer who also happens to be his wife's attorney. The brilliant machinations of this lawyer will put the long suffering Chabert within reach of his goal, yet will also raise in his mind and ours a disturbing question: Did Chabert cheat deaths physical grip, only to realize ultimately that it had swallowed his soul, his very being, everything that made Chabert Chabert, and leave him with ethereal memories and an empty husk of a body? I will let the viewers of this film come to their own conclusions about that question.

To make such an emotional impact, most everything about a film must click in just right and this is no exception. The performances are no less than brilliant. Fanny Ardent hits all the marks as Chaberts scheming yet all too human wife. Fabrice Luchini almost steals the show with his searingly precise depiction of the masterly lawyer Derville. As for Chabert, Gerard Depardieu's is a pure manifestation of brilliance. An acting coach could probably break down his performance into instructive segments illustrating how to truly engender character thru subtle juxtapositions of gesture and voice. As an audience though, you never once think about what a great job Depardieu is doing, you are too interested in where he is going to take you next. A strong cry of "Auter!" also to Writer Director Yves Angelo for his sure handed story telling and a "Bravo!" to the exquisitely rich lensing of Bernard Autic.

If you start watching this film and feel my term of "Ghost story" is inaccurate, be patient and wait for the late night first interview between Chabert and Derville. Listen to Chabert describe the sensations of death. And then try to sleep well that night...