Le vieux fusil

On June 10th 1944, less than two weeks before the Normandy landings, almost the entire population of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane was slaughtered by members of a Waffen SS division. That atrocity is not reconstructed here but forms the basis of Robert Enrico's film.

Surgeon Julien Dandieu arrives at the village where he grew up, the castle of which he happens to own, only to find a scene of mass carnage in which his beloved wife and daughter have perished. His unbearable grief soon gives way to a natural, all-consuming hatred for the Nazi perpetrators who have taken over the castle. Taking advantage of his intimate knowledge of the castle with all its hidden passages and armed only with a double-barrelled shotgun used for hunting wild boar, he sets about stalking his human prey and exacting retribution. The method by which he disposes of the highest ranking SS officer is singularly appropriate.

Suffice to say this is a grim, harrowing and violent film, at times graphically so but has great tension, momentum and first class editing.

It is in effect an early 'vigilante' movie but is well balanced by being a love story also. The use of flashbacks to show the domestic bliss of Dandieu, his wife Clara and their daughter is dramatically very effective.

As Clara the wondrous Romy Schneider once again touches the heartstrings.

The film proved extremely popular with French audiences who had never seen anything like it before. Despite its merits I am not certain that it deserved to win the César for Best Picture although its emotive subject matter no doubt helped and the competition that year was not that stiff. I also found the jaunty title music of Enrico's preferred composer Francois de Roubaix rather incongruous. Pleased to say that the superlative Philippe Noiret in his second collaboration with this director, was awarded the first of his two Césars and a Donatello for his riveting performance as Dandieu. Also of note are Jean Bouise giving his customary understated performance as a family friend and the excellent Joachim Hansen who has succeeded in making the SS officer more than just a one-dimensional nasty Nazi.

This piece, which established Enrico as a director, mixes the genres of war, action, romance and it must be said, exploitation.

We must not lose track of the horrific historical event that inspired the film which acts as a distressing reminder of the barbaric cruelty to which humans can sink.

Nice movie please watch. You can watch second time also.

The story telling is utterly convincing, and because of the flashback technique, we feel the emotion of the main character (Julien) as the drama unfolds. The suspense is keen and mounting. The viewer keeps asking with increasing intensity: is this what I would do in Julien's position? His mistakes make us groan, his successes make us cheer. His pathos makes us cry.

Sadly the reviewer did not watch properly the movie : 1. Noiret/Dandieu does not arrive "just in time" to see his family killed : he imagineswhat has happened (perhaps one or two days before; unclear).

2. The girl is his daughter; not Romy/Clara's I did not plan to write more but I am forced to write at least 1O lines (silly rule).

This is a movie I first saw when I was 12 or 13.

It made a lasting impression on me.

I love its pace, the acting (Noiret in particular), Romy's beauty, charm and accent.

And the music by François de Roubaix.

Many people have already made clear why this movie is so incredibly good. It is definitely worth watching.

There is one thing however that bothers me in this movie. Without spoiling, you will see that this man cares so much more about his wife than his daughter. This is awfully unrealistic for the hero in a movie, but necessary seen the famous actress playing the wife (they had to give her more screen time).

Other than that, the action is great for its time. It is a realistic revenge story, so don't expect Jason Statham killing over a 100 Nazi's in half an hour. This movie keeps it real and touches your heart, don't watch it for the action.