La Commune (Paris, 1871)

Synopsis

“In March 1871 civil war rages in Paris. A journalist on Versailles TV issues a soothing, truncated report on the events that are tearing apart the French Republic, while a community access channel is set up by the insurgents. Inside a theater (the Armand Gatti workshop in Montreuil), some 220 actors, predominantly amateurs, impersonate the workers of the Popincourt quarter of the 11th Arrondissement and reenact the social and political debates that racked the Paris Commune. Despite the period costumes, the discussions are as often as not about contemporary problems – unemployment and racism – and many of the criticisms are aimed not at Versailles but at current government and society. Watkins made this film in response to what he perceives as a postmodern cynicism, "where ethics, human collectivity, and commitment (except to opportunism) are considered ‘old-fashioned.’" To portray the possibility for such commitment, he has created this masterfully photographed, powerfully enacted, and thoroughly engrossing "revolutionary" work.” – Harvard Film Archive

"The Paris Commune has always been severely marginalized by the French education system, despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that it is a key event in the history of the European working class, and when we first met, most of the cast admitted that they knew little or nothing about the subject. It was very important that the people become directly involved in our research on the Paris Commune, thereby gaining an experiential process in analyzing those aspects of the current French system which are failing in their responsibility to provide citizens with a truly democratic and participatory process." – Peter Watkins