Latest news with #historicalstorytelling
New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘An Officer and a Spy' Review: The Dreyfus Affair as an Allegory
In France, Roman Polanski's 'An Officer and a Spy' was released in 2019 as 'J'Accuse …!' — I accuse. On its face, the movie is an account of the Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jewish-French army captain named Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of passing military secrets to the Germans in the late 19th century. The movie shared its original title with Émile Zola's published defense of Dreyfus, which changed both public opinion and history. The accused in Zola's denunciation is unmistakable. Yet who is the movie — and Polanski — accusing, and of what? Now, six years after its French run, 'An Officer and a Spy' is opening in New York at the Film Forum. It's the first new Polanski movie to play in this country since the 2014 release of 'Venus in Fur.' In the years since, Polanski — who fled the United States in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor — became effectively persona non grata here. Film Forum has posted a programming note to its website that refers to the assault, and also states that the movie is 'a well-crafted, dramatic depiction of the Dreyfus Affair' and 'an important contribution to cinema's crucial role in historical storytelling.' 'An Officer and a Spy' is well-crafted; Polanski's movies generally are. Its contribution to cinema's role in historical storytelling, though, seems largely as an allegory about Polanski. The movie opens with cinematic sweep, with Dreyfus (a de-glammed Louis Garrel) being ostentatiously stripped of his miliary rank in a degradation ceremony. It's 1895 and the setting is a vast, austere courtyard of the École Militaire, which was founded by Louis XV. Soldiers and bystanders are in attendance; in the near distance, the recently built Eiffel Tower pierces the gray sky. The tower was built to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution, whose universalist principles — liberté, égalité, fraternité — were extended to all French Jews in 1791, granting them full citizenship. Questions of identity, patrimony and antisemitism are among the issues swirling through 'An Officer and a Spy.' After Dreyfus's degradation ceremony, he is separated from his family and imprisoned on Devil's Island, a penal colony in French Guiana where he is the lone inmate and ordered not to speak to the guards. With each affront, Dreyfus is progressively isolated from France, a point Polanski underscores with a stunning series of long shots of Devil's Island that show it at a greater distance until it disappears from view, like its prisoner. It's a denigration that, at least symbolically, evokes the Nazis' methodical dehumanizing actions toward Jews in 'The Pianist,' Polanski's towering 2002 film about the Holocaust. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Flashback: A taste of American pie
A taste of American pie Singer/songwriter Don McLean 2 days ago Duration 1:33 A music hall in Prince Edward Island has pioneered a genre that uses "pop songs as a vehicle for historical storytelling," freelancer Hillary LeBlanc wrote for CBC Arts last week. Co-owner Mike Ross calls the format a "docu-concert." Ross and company are about to debut a work that delves into Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and LeBlanc says their first docu-concert included "a line-by-line breakdown" of the 1971 Don McLean song American Pie. When he was a guest on the CBC concert series Sounds Good in 1976, McLean ended the show with a performance of that song. In an interview during the program, McLean said most of his work had "some root in my own experience." A part of our heritage Queen Elizabeth drops puck at hockey game in 2002 2 days ago Duration 0:29 There were two days of "pomp and ceremony" across Ottawa fora visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla this week, according to CBC News. Among his other duties, Charles launched a street hockey demonstration with a "ceremonial puck drop." When visiting Canada in 2002, Queen Elizabeth appeared to be pleased to drop the puck at a National Hockey League match in Vancouver. Wayne Gretzky, who had recently retired from playing in the NHL, was there beside her. "Every country's different and we grew up in this one with the Royal Family as part of our heritage," said Gretzky in reply to an American reporter's question at a press conference after the ceremony, according to a Globe and Mail account. Into the twilight zone Role-playing group brings fantasy to life in 1985 2 days ago Duration 3:41 The Fantasy Field Trip Society in Halifax shows a CBC reporter a campaign in live-action role playing. A British man wore a Super Mario costume while running a marathon in Copenhagen this month. According to Canadian Running magazine, he set a Guinness World Record "for the fastest marathon dressed as a video game character." In 1985, a Halifax group calling itself the Fantasy Field Trip Society also put on costumes to evoke fictional figures. A CBC crew followed members through a live-action role-playing scenario drawn from a science fiction novel as a games master (who doubled as a wizard) sent them to "the twilight realm" to seek a magic sword. "It's a lot of fun to get dressed up and see what your imagination will let you do," said a participant, whose role as a 'fire and ice sister' was to confuse the seekers. She said her day job was as a clerk for the federal government. A bigger boat fleet Clothing-optional beach at Hanlan's Point officially approved in Toronto 2 days ago Duration 2:03 In a debate with a few dissenters, Toronto's city council agrees to make clothing optional on a city beach that must be reached by ferry. Aired May 12, 1999 with reporter Adam Vaughan. Toronto city council has approved the purchase of two new electric ferries, said a report last week from CBC News. In 1999, CBC reporter Adam Vaughan said the city might need extra boats after a vote to make a Toronto Island beach clothing-optional. Ice dream The Minnesota Frost have beaten the Ottawa Charge to win the Professional Women's Hockey League championship, reports the Associated Press. Back in 1987, CBC reported on what it said was the first international women's international hockey tournament. Out with outports Resettlement in Newfoundland: is it good for the people? 56 years ago Duration 23:29 When Take 30 goes to Newfoundland to ask former Placentia Bay outport residents if the move to Arnold's Cove was a good one, the responses vary widely. Last week CBC News reported on the town of Tilt Cove, N.L., whose four residents will soon be relocating to a town on the same coastline. In 1969, the CBC show Take 30 examined outport resettlement in the province, calling it "migration on a vast scale." The bird is the word Starting later this year, new episodes of Sesame Street and "select past episodes" will run on Netflix in addition to PBS, the Associated Press has reported. There was a familiar feathered face out of context in 1985 when Big Bird was on CBC's Midday.
