Vaincre ou mourir

I've been deeply moved by this movie.

I only recently discovered what happened in Vendée, a french department, right after the revolution.

And it's important that peace can be made with this dark event of french history.

This is not about promoting kingdom over republic... Those reviews judging this movie by this angle are deeply wrong.

It's about loyalty and "panache" among many other qualities. The main character is fighting for a noble cause and has to cope with loyalty and treason from both sides.

And let's be honest, it might not be a blockbuster with famous actors or tremendous budget but, man, it has a story to tell and you can feel the spirit of these actors playing their role.

Deep respect.

I wish I could definitely see more movies like this and particularly with my kids.

An amazing movie. In France the movie industry is hugely the results of a leftist propaganda resulting in really bad movies. Nobody really cares about the French cinema for several decades now, but here we go. Fantastic actors, true story, hidden to the French People for so many decades. It is joyful to finally get such a great moment of art. The entire French critics got insane when this movie was release and the entire press went 100% when for the public it was as a fantastic moment of real French grandeur. My 3 kids loved it, an occasion to revisit the bloody French history and the terrible propaganda we, French People, got sunken into from our childhood.

Vaincre ou Mourir is a unique and captivating project from Puy du Fou Films, who launched it as their first production with a remarkable low 5 million euro budget and no public money contrary to the totality of the other French cinematographic productions. Despite the lack of press and media attention, it achieved great success, becoming one of the top box office films of the year and amassing over 300,000 admissions. The movie is a powerful retelling of François-Athanase Charette de La Contrie's extraordinary journey during the Vendée War, combining beautiful visuals, a dramatic score, and an emotionally engaging narrative for an immersive experience. Rod Paradot stars as Charette, a figure of great perseverance, as viewers are taken through his struggles and his commitment to his path and convictions. While there is some over-the-top dialogue, Vaincre ou Mourir succeeds in capturing the spirit of history and the resilience of the people of the Vendée region. It was a great success, though unfortunately not all cinema networks were keen to show it, because of the subject of the Vendéen genocide orchestrated by the idols of the French left.

Two potential criticisms of this documentary include the limited number of extras, which requires the camera to use close shots, and the prominence of the voice-over by Charette.

It is worth noting that the filmmakers consulted different historians with varying opinions, rather than just using the title of historian to legitimize the film without taking their perspectives into account.

French cinema tends to be the same theme over and over again. Here however it is a topic hardly ever mentioned and just for that it makes the film worth watching.

Now personally I found the first half of the film extremely hard to watch as we are shown the atrocities of the war, the barely armed peasants sent to be slaughtered by the 'hero' of the film. Then there is the counter attack where non fighters (elders, children and women) get slaughtered and we know it happened.

We mostly follow the side of the Vendeans at a time period called "the Terror" for how people in the same side would cut the heads off their former ally and now rivals, at a time revolutionaries were trying to fight most of Europe with under trained people through sheer numbers. Needless to say the resistance from the Vendeans was not appreciated and the 'solution' to it, as shown in the film, was brutal and merciless.

Be aware it is not a feel good film, it's about dark times and the film shows that well.

I strongly suggest people to watch the film to make their own opinions since many critics put it down for choosing a different topic or being done by a studio which is not vetted by established French studios.

Some left-wing people would have us, French citizens, think that revolutionaries were saints and that French History began in 1789. This movie reminds us that all was not black and white, and that there were heroes, and bad people and good people, in both camps, royalists and catholics as well as revolutionaries.

I don't know how much of Charette's private history is known to historians so I would call this movie a biopic rather than a documentary. And this movie was first meant for television before making it to the screen, so maybe it will disappoint the cinema viewer. However, I didn't find it without merit and ambition compared to the usual french comedies and societal movies. And I should say that the viewers' rating in France goes far above the critics' rating and the movie was applauded when I went to see it.

So... give it a try and make your own opinion.