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As the host for the upcoming Movieforums top 100 war movies list, I'm going to watch as many war movies as possible and post my ballot at the end. I'm even planning on re-evaluating some movies that would've made it on if I decided to submit it on the first day. There is no guarantee over what will and won't make it onto my list. But it motivated me to finally check out the other Abel Gance giant: J'Accuse. I saw Napoleon a few years ago and thought it was absolutely brilliant. And now I have some similar compliments to share with his earlier tearjerker.
Going off to fight for the French in WWI, Jean can't fight the fact that he's in love with his friend Francois's wife, Edith. However, Francois suspects the two are having an affair. When they are both summoned to the war, all hell breaks lose, worsening Jean's condition. It doesn't help that he received news that As he returns home, both tragedy and joy come along as Jean reunites with Edith, and revelation after revelation eventually leads to an uncomfortable bond between Francois and Jean as they return to the war one more time.
Cementing itself as one of the movie industry's very first tearjerker, the movie focuses on the pain of war in a brutal fashion. Now one might say that this movie is dated because its filmmaking techniques were not only surpassed by later movies since it's such an early film, but also by Gance's later Napoleon. But the real effect of the movie comes from the fact that it is that old. This must've been one freakishly heavy movie in 1919, and when watching a good silent movie there's a feeling of being in the past when experiencing it. If I was the type to cry at movies... you know something, maybe I should just admit that I can have a heart for a rock because I didn't cry at THIS damn movie. That story was just too much on the emotional scale, and yes, a man who doesn't cry at movies can sense this. Many terrible things happen in between the few sentimental and awe-inspiring good things in the story. But that ending 20 minutes. Oh my god, can you write a more depressing ending? You'd have to be either a skillful god or a sadistic satan to write something like this. What the unholy shit did these people who made the movie go through.
And the acting is... it's just so proper and beautiful. We get cheesy acting in these kinds of movies all the time, but for the time the acting is much more professional than what was normally seen then. Through the acting, the effect is stronger, and thus the attempts at fighting back tears may be impossible for those who do even only occasionally cry at movies.
And it isn't the acting alone that empowers the story, but the cinematography. We can see early instances of what was going to happen on Napoleon as our cameraman takes us into the heart of the battlefield and the war violence itself. Thus, we're there with the soldiers as they are realizing their fate has been handed to them. Did you know that 85% of silent movies used different colored-tinted film reels depending on the scenes? Well, most don't, which is a shame. The colors sometimes seem random with some silent movies. But the tints of J'Accuse flawlessly created the eerie, depressing and calming atmospheres needed to represent each scene. I especially loved the violet and teal tints across the battlefield shots.
Having seen so few movies from the 1910's, I was beforehand limited to FritzLangs, The Spiders: The Golden Sea, John Ford's Straight Shooting, Allan Dwan's The Good Bad Man, De Mille's The Girl of the Golden West, Tod Browning's The Wicked Darling and an early version of Alice in Wonderland. But after watching J'Accuse, I have to admit that I feel justified in saying that this could easily be the crowning achievement of the 1910's. This in fact might even be one of my favorite movies. It's rare for me to find a tearjerker that impresses me like this. I recommend this for ANYBODY, not just film junkies. This is a story that even modern movie fans should see. It might not be Napoleon, but it is so damn close that it's not even funny. I can't promise that it will make my top 25 for the ballot, but at it's current standing, it's at least a contender. I have three-to-four months to watch more, so we'll have to wait and see.
= 100/100
Abel Gance needs one more movie for an average score.
J'Accuse
(1919) - Directed by Abel Gance
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War / Tearjerker / Epic / Historical Drama
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(1919) - Directed by Abel Gance
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War / Tearjerker / Epic / Historical Drama
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"Let's go home and see if they are worthy of our sacrifice."
Going off to fight for the French in WWI, Jean can't fight the fact that he's in love with his friend Francois's wife, Edith. However, Francois suspects the two are having an affair. When they are both summoned to the war, all hell breaks lose, worsening Jean's condition. It doesn't help that he received news that As he returns home, both tragedy and joy come along as Jean reunites with Edith, and revelation after revelation eventually leads to an uncomfortable bond between Francois and Jean as they return to the war one more time.
Cementing itself as one of the movie industry's very first tearjerker, the movie focuses on the pain of war in a brutal fashion. Now one might say that this movie is dated because its filmmaking techniques were not only surpassed by later movies since it's such an early film, but also by Gance's later Napoleon. But the real effect of the movie comes from the fact that it is that old. This must've been one freakishly heavy movie in 1919, and when watching a good silent movie there's a feeling of being in the past when experiencing it. If I was the type to cry at movies... you know something, maybe I should just admit that I can have a heart for a rock because I didn't cry at THIS damn movie. That story was just too much on the emotional scale, and yes, a man who doesn't cry at movies can sense this. Many terrible things happen in between the few sentimental and awe-inspiring good things in the story. But that ending 20 minutes. Oh my god, can you write a more depressing ending? You'd have to be either a skillful god or a sadistic satan to write something like this. What the unholy shit did these people who made the movie go through.
And the acting is... it's just so proper and beautiful. We get cheesy acting in these kinds of movies all the time, but for the time the acting is much more professional than what was normally seen then. Through the acting, the effect is stronger, and thus the attempts at fighting back tears may be impossible for those who do even only occasionally cry at movies.
And it isn't the acting alone that empowers the story, but the cinematography. We can see early instances of what was going to happen on Napoleon as our cameraman takes us into the heart of the battlefield and the war violence itself. Thus, we're there with the soldiers as they are realizing their fate has been handed to them. Did you know that 85% of silent movies used different colored-tinted film reels depending on the scenes? Well, most don't, which is a shame. The colors sometimes seem random with some silent movies. But the tints of J'Accuse flawlessly created the eerie, depressing and calming atmospheres needed to represent each scene. I especially loved the violet and teal tints across the battlefield shots.
Having seen so few movies from the 1910's, I was beforehand limited to FritzLangs, The Spiders: The Golden Sea, John Ford's Straight Shooting, Allan Dwan's The Good Bad Man, De Mille's The Girl of the Golden West, Tod Browning's The Wicked Darling and an early version of Alice in Wonderland. But after watching J'Accuse, I have to admit that I feel justified in saying that this could easily be the crowning achievement of the 1910's. This in fact might even be one of my favorite movies. It's rare for me to find a tearjerker that impresses me like this. I recommend this for ANYBODY, not just film junkies. This is a story that even modern movie fans should see. It might not be Napoleon, but it is so damn close that it's not even funny. I can't promise that it will make my top 25 for the ballot, but at it's current standing, it's at least a contender. I have three-to-four months to watch more, so we'll have to wait and see.
= 100/100
Abel Gance needs one more movie for an average score.