Le 6 juin à l'aube

Jean Grémillon's documentary of the Normandy campaign can be broadly divided into three parts: the history of the Manche and Calvados, a graphic representation of the battle lines from D-Day through the expulsion of the Germans from area (with some battle footage cut in), and the aftermath. It's the utter devastation of the third part, the ruined dwellings, the stripped trees, the people asking for help that isn't there, the men carrying coffins to the endless cemeteries, that brings it home.

Grémillon is best remembered for expertly crafted movies in the 1930s and early 1940s, lush, romantic works that were star vehicles. He had started, like many film makers, in short documentaries, all of which seem to be lost. As a result, this film, which seems so atypical of the (relatively few) movies of his I have seen, fits in. After the war, his career floundered; he had trouble getting this movie released. The distributors said "people are tired of the War". He made only three more movies through 1953 and died in 1959, age 61.