![]() But this exhilarating moment is hardly the end of the film - there are still many turnarounds to come, and truth to tell the twists do begin to drag in the last hour. ![]() Later, as Picquart is being carted off to prison in a paddy wagon, the streets of Paris are abuzz with Zola’s famous front page article entitled “J’Accuse,” exposing the evidence Picquart has gathered that proves Dreyfus’ innocence and points the finger at the massive cover-up of the army generals. One intuits rather than sees the repressed fury with which he puts aside his professed dislike of Jews to follow the truth, though it leads him into major trouble.īack to the wall, he risks everything to attend a secret meeting of pro-Dreyfus supporters, who include the great novelist Emile Zola, the future prime minister of France Georges Clemenceau, and the editor of the newspaper Aurora. Dujardin’s stiffly controlled face, so concentrated he seems almost devoid of outward emotion, is still amazingly expressive, and the audience is behind him all the way. It is when Picquart is ordered to forget Dreyfus that he steps out of military obedience mode and things start to heat up. This means that Esterhazy will have to go free, to avoid complicating matters. Dreyfus has been sentenced and the army can’t admit it made a mistake. They are of one mind: let the matter drop. Instead, Picquart realizes with dismay, all evidence now points to Esterhazy, not Dreyfus.īound by duty and loyalty to the army, yet ruled by his conscience, the young head of the Secret Services takes his doubts up the ladder, from one general to another. Examining a purloined letter written by Esterhazy, Picquart is suddenly struck by its similarity to the “bordereau” letter, a key piece of evidence in the Dreyfus affair that nailed him as a spy. He hires a modern detective to follow Esterhazy and, when that proves too obvious, they rent an adjoining apartment where a team of sleuths take photos and use newfangled listening devices to overhear conversations. In the silence of a great cathedral, he picks up a package of letters left by an officer’s maidservant. He meets a contact in a music hall where dancers are performing a cancan. The story shifts to the rhythm of a riveting detective story as Picquart launches a Sherlockian investigation. The first intrigue he stumbles across involves another case of espionage: A certain Esterhazy has been divulging military info to an Italian officer with whom he is romantically involved. Henry (Gregory Gadebois), is antagonistic from the start, begrudging him access to secret papers and files. The personnel he inherits isn’t any friendlier than the surroundings. He takes charge of a musty old building that smells of sewage and where the windows don’t open to relieve the stifling heat. Then young Picquart, who was one of Dreyfus’ teachers in military school, is named the new head of the Secret Services, and destiny brings their lives together once more. Even in this tense moment, Dreyfus ( Louis Garrel) shouts out his innocence. He has been court-martialed for high treason for passing secrets to the enemy and sentenced to life imprisonment. The story is told from the point of view of Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart (Dujardin), who is present at Dreyfus’ public humiliation in the opening scene where he is stripped of his rank in front of the army regiments looking on contemptuously. ![]() Regardless of whether this film refreshes viewers’ memories or tells the story for the first time, it is one for the record, a classic reminder of a particularly appalling historical event. With its overtones of anti-Semitism, the case swept over France and almost plunged it into a civil war. In 1895, the Dreyfus affair saw the young Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus condemned as a spy, stripped of his rank and imprisoned on faraway Devil’s Island.
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