I must say that the film (St.Just et la Force des Choses) does not seem very convincing to me. In my point of view, it is an unfortunate combination of St.Just fandom and the lack of will to recognize his ideology and acts. I understand it's difficult to analyze them and still want to make a movie praising the person, but avoiding the problems is intellectually dishonest. The attempt to whitewash him then necessarily leads to vilifying Robespierre and making St.Just seem like a rather stupid puppet which I don't think he was. La Terreur et la Vertu is much better, although 1) idealizing Robespierre and, above all, St.Just too much 2)St.Just has too much of sang-froid, even while quarreling with Carnot, while there exist a number of historical references to him getting angry quite easily. Moreover, he DID HAVE a pretty harsh rhetoric which is not shown in the movie, so he comes out too angelic and much less complex than Robespierre (whom I find better characterized).
Re: Revolution in movies
Date: 2009-01-18 01:07 pm (UTC)La Terreur et la Vertu is much better, although 1) idealizing Robespierre and, above all, St.Just too much 2)St.Just has too much of sang-froid, even while quarreling with Carnot, while there exist a number of historical references to him getting angry quite easily. Moreover, he DID HAVE a pretty harsh rhetoric which is not shown in the movie, so he comes out too angelic and much less complex than Robespierre (whom I find better characterized).