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Danton
1983 · Film · 136 min
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not accept such a challenge, even from a friend and colleague, and he blocked out a plan for the capture and execution of Danton and his allies.
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>(Obchod na korze, Sedmikrásky, Ostře sledované vlaky, Hoří, má panenko, Marketa Lazarová, Ucho) and Polish (Popiól I Diament, The Saragossa Manuscript, Człowiek z marmuru, Człowiek z żelaza)
Excellent! You've watched some brilliant Slavic films already then, especially Marketa Lazarova and The Saragossa Manuscript. I have these two in my favourite films of all time list. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.
Here are some of my favs: Ziemia obiecana (1975), Sanatorium pod klepsydrą (1973), Pociąg (1959), Kanal (1957), Holubice (1960), Slnko v sieti (1962), Zlaté kapradí (1963), Údolí včel (1968), Csillagosok, katonák (1967), A Pál utcai fiúk (1968), A tanú (1969), Kárhozat (1988), Két félidő a pokolban (1961), Szindbád (1971), Szürkület (1990), Dacii (1967), Danton (1983), O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Pădurea spînzuraților (1965), Reconstituirea (1968), and Добро пожаловать, или Посторонним вход воспрещён (1964).
In a different genre, Dorothy Dunnett might lay claim to the same historiography, she meticulously researched real events and documented behaviours of the time, and wound up recruiting historical figures of often quite minor note, not by any means all princes and masters, for her cast.
I am tempted to say Colleen McCullough too. But I think less so.
Mantel was perhaps unique in the genre of being celebrated for literary qualities much more than historical. I don't think the Booker committee cared if she did the research.
Also, like all good historians, other historians do take downs on her portrayal of Cromwell. They're "standing on the toes" people more than Newton's "standing on the shoulder of giants" (which of course predates Newton and I will deservedly be castigated for naming it thus)
I really liked "a place of greater safety" from 1992 which proceeded the Cromwell books by some years. Spine shivering stuff. The film "Danton" came out some years before in 1983 and I remember thinking that the book influenced how I thought about the times when I saw the film, long after release.
I'm thinking also of figures such as Georges Danton and his possible banker connections, so include the bankrolling of the toppling of the Capetian Dynasty in that equation.
In one of the films on F.R. (either Danton (1983) or La Révolution Française (1989)) Robespierre makes a remark to the committee at the night of the arrest of Danton, Desmoulins, Séchelles, and Philippeaux, along the lines of 'if we don't move now, he'll have funding from the bankers in three days'.