"Le Crabe-Tambour" (1977)

Honneur et Patrie

In 1940, France was occupied by the Third Reich. After that, the country was plagued by civil war, which was, mainly, in French consciousness. The French officer corps was also affected. Some officers swore allegiance to Marshal Petain; some joined the Free French. After the war, the French was labelled as cowards (which was spread by Americans and not by Germans).

In the 1950-1960s France took part in brutal war in Indochina and Algiers. The fighting officers had to deal with new plague – hostility. The newspapers were full of articles that «The French Female Union is with Vietcong» , the officers were treated as criminals. Despite that, the French Armed Forces almost succeeded in destroying the insurgency. On the 1^st of June, 1958, Charles de Gaulle was appointed as the Prime Minister and the French officers were overjoyed.

After taking office, on the 4^th of June, Charles de Gaulle went to Algiers. The joyous crowd applauded the General and de Gaulle said the following words to the crowd «I understood it» (Je vous ai compris). A lot of French thought that de Gaulle would save the French Algiers. When officers found out, that de Gaulle started negotiations, the officers, along with the population, were divided once more.

Fighting officers, including such illustrious men, as the most decorated General Raoul Salan and the youngest Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry joined the mutiny, and proudly faced prison or execution. Other officers stayed away and continued to serve in the military, but some of them were plagued for the rest of the life by their weakness.

Captain of destroyer Jauréguiberry found out that he got lung cancer and he understands, that he is days are counted. Before death, he wants to sail for the last time and he encounters an old acquaintance – military doctor Pierre. Destroyer escorts the fishing flotilla to Newfoundland, but the Captain wants to meet for the last time one of the «lost soldiers» - Navy Lieutenant Willsdorff, more knows as «Le Crabe-Tambour».

Who could be considered an officer. Officer is a man, who always acts with his honor, integrity and loyalty (quoting the Code of the French Soldier). If an officer gives his words, no circumstances could force him to break it. And the important of all – the real officer would always be remembered by soldiers and people alike, even if the life would force him to poverty.

Navy Lieutenant Willsdorff is the real officer. He perfectly knows the military science, he is respected by officers and soldiers and he is «consciousness» - black cat – became legendary. In any situation, including Vietcong prison camp and African slavery, Lieutenant Willsdorff always saves his face. And the most important of all – he is loyal to the French nation, not to the French politicians. When his brother is killed in Algiers, he transfers to the parachute regiment and joins the mutiny.

During most of the film, we will see Lieutenant Willsdorff as a memory but, despite that, it seems that he is on the ship. Even after he became an ex-jailbird fisherman, Lieutenant Willsdorff maintains his officer’s honor and stays internally young, compared to exhausted and worn-out active duty officers.

All of the battleships are decommissioned and sold for scrap or used for target practice. Almost all decommissioned ships are forgotten and left to rot near naval bases. But some ships are remembered in books and films. The same words could be applied to retired officers, some of which will always be remembered.

Pierre Schoendoerffer made an honest film about honor, courage and loyalty. Those words would resonate with anyone. I recommend to watch this film along with «La 317e Section».

In memory of Andrzej Zulawski (Na srebrnym globie)

Please, what's important or necessary in cinema? Nothing. "Important", "necessary" - I can't understand these words (A. Zulawski)

In 1972, the Polish authorities banned «The Devil» and Andrzej Zulawski left Poland. After a success of «L’important c’est d’aimer», the Director was invited back in Poland and was given carte blanche for his next feature. Andrzej Zulawski decided to film his granduncle’s novel called «On the Silver Globe». For two years the Director was shooting the film and then suddenly the authorities have stopped the shooting. Only in 1986 Andrzej Zulawski got a chance to edit the remaining material and to give a limited release to the film.

On some planet the group of natives found a capsule and pass it to the group of researchers. The researchers examines it and find the filming of an old space voyage. A long time ago, a group of space researchers left the Earth and gives birth to the new civilization on a remote planet.

As we know, the most famous work of Arnold J. Toynbee is a multi-volume « A Study of History». Toynbee points out that civilization is a closed society, characterized by religion and territory. There are the generations of civilizations and every civilization passes the stages of genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration. Of course, «A Study of History» was published much later than «On the Silver Globe», but I am sure that Andrzej Zulawski has read Arnold J. Toynbee and used the theory of Toynbee in his film.

The film can be divided in three parts: videodiary of a first expedition; second expedition on the Planet by Marek and events on a planet which serve as a base for astronauts. Andrzej Zulawski starts with depicting genesis of the new civilization. On the new planet, one of the astronauts – Marta -  gives birth to a boy called Tomek. Then Marta gives birth to another children and they start grouping around Tomek. The only surviving astronaut Jerzy becomes an idol – the Old Man – and Tomek consolidates his power around a cult of his late mother, father and the Old Man.

Andrzej Zulawski uses the theory of Toynbee as he did in his other films with genres, literature and other things. In «On the Silver Globe» the Director shows how easily society could be corrupted and stripped of any remains of humanity. In addition, Andrzej Zulawski depicts, through primitive society, how ideas and theories could be manipulated and changed, such as Christianity and Marxism.

A lot of Zulawski’s films depicts the lack of faith and it’s surrogates. In this film, the Director tries to remind a blinded spectator about true, not changed, commandments. The red line of «On the Silver Globe» is the Second Commandment: «Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image». The Director warns us that any «graven image» turns into a Tyrant or becomes a tool in a hands of unscrupulous people.

In the second part of a film, Andrzej Zulawski addresses reformism and society by using the Allegory of the Cave (Plato). As Marek arrives, the inhabitants of civilization have become prisoners, poisoned by false believes. Marek is welcomed by the inhabitants as the Messiah, who can release them from the captivity of the Szerns.

While Marek satisfies the paradigm of the «Cave», he is worshipped. Nevertheless, Marek is rejected and crucified as Jesus Christ, after he breaks the paradigm and tries to show a light to the prisoners. Marek is crucified exactly in a moment, when he starts truly believing that he is the Messiah. The Marek story parallels the story of the 1960-1970 Eastern Europe, when the reform movement was crushed by within forces in the Communist parties.

Apart from politics and religion, «On the Silver Globe» is also an homage to the bad actors. In 1998, Andrzej Zulawski gave an interview to Eyeball Magazine, where he said: «In Paris you have 10,000 people who call themselves «professional actors». The difficult thing is to pick the real ones». Andrzej Zulawski wrote a quote to a local man, which illustrates his attitude to this 10,000: «Actor is a victory of ugliness over natural beauty».

If you judge the film from this point of view, the astronauts and locals are those 10,000. The only true actor was Jerzy, but he gave up and become an idol – the Old Man. The other characters are bad actors who are trying to play people, explorers of prophets. Also a lot of dialogues in the film concern acting or pursuit of truth though acting.

It is sad that «On the Silver Globe» was released unfinished, but it is still strong and multi-layered piece of art, which gives you a lot of questions and challenges to find answers yourself. If you’re not frightened by bad picture and translation, rough editing and director’s commentaries or you’re an admirer of Zulawski, then don’t miss this film.