The most beautiful lives are those we invent
France between World Wars. Little Albert Dehousse admires novels about heroes. His mother claims that her late husband died for France in the First World War. This story is disputed by the neighbors, but who cares? When the Second World War broke out, Albert misses his chance to be a real hero. Still, he pretends to be a writer by plagiarizing other person’s work and, in process, wins over a beautiful girl. After the war, he goes to Paris and becomes a Resistance hero.
The collective national unconsciousness always tries to clear out some painful or shameful episodes. The post-war France adopted the legend that the populace was actively resisting occupation and only a few renegades were collaborating. Therefore, many active collaborationists avoided prosecution by claiming that they were working for Resistance. Some of them were even able to occupy important posts in the French government.
Other people claimed that they were in Resistance in order to advance themselves in the post-war society. Albert Dehousse luckily places himself into collective rewriting of history. He starts out by appearing in newsreels with returning POWs and frequenting reunions of old resistance fighters. There he hears war stories and begins constructing his heroic biography. Albert is very successful and he is able to enter the circle of high-ranking persons.
Why this film was released in 1996, if the war ended 51 years ago? One of the reasons was that France was rocked by Maurice Papon trial. He was a collaborator who, among other things, organized deportation of Jews, but after the war he was able to escape prosecution by reinventing himself as a loyal Gaullist. He occupied many important posts, including Prefect of Police in Paris and Minister of Budget.
Of course, Albert was not complicit in any war crimes. He is portrayed as a person with a vivid imagination, who is able to successfully reinvent himself. The post-war France desperately needed a lot of new heroes and he was able to ride that wave. Only one day his heroic credentials will be put to a real test. Will he be able to pass that test? I will not spoil it.
The film captures well the contradictions of the French society. The film director inserts a lot of interviews with historians, writers and war veterans, and they all give a very confusing portrayal of Albert’s so-called heroic deeds. What about the hard truth? It is not very popular, if you able to reinvent yourself and make others to believe in it. Such Alberts were all over Europe, even in the Soviet Union.
«Un héros très discret» is a very good film about rewriting of history. Watch it and then read some real post-World War Two stories. I bet you, that that you will find that postwar Europe was full of Alberts - men who reinvented themselves and were believed because society needed to believe.
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