Vivre libre

Although I consider myself a film buff, I confess I had never of this film until I saw being broadcast last night at 1.30 in the morning. I was expecting some pedestrian war time propaganda but the presence of Charles Laughton convinced me to watch it. I am astonished that such a powerful film is so little known and broadcasting only rarely.

One could argue (as had been done in the comments here) that Laughton's transformation from mouse to man is rather too swift. I myself found it totally convincing but it is in the nature of Hollywood to exaggerate these things to make a good movie.

The comparison to "inherit the wind" and "To Kill a mockingbird" is well made here, but the question remains, why is this film so little known? The answer, I think, is that those films make the middle classes feel good about themselves. Everyone fancies themselves to be an Atticus Finch who can recognise the ignorance of 'common people'. But TLIM points the accusing finger at the Atticus Finch's of the world, the men of learning and intelligence who are quite prepared to justify working with evil and persuading themselves that it is not so bad. As such it is as relevant (sadly) as it ever was.