During the Franco-Prussian War, Prussian troops besieged Paris for four months under the shrewd deployment of Bismarck. After the fall of the short-lived Paris Commune, the Third French Republic, which seemed to have great uncertainty at the time, staggered to power, but its republican rule unexpectedly lasted for more than half a century, and it did not end until Nazi Germany invaded France in 1940.
In the 1880s, the Republic was reluctantly ruled by the centrists. The surge in social and economic contradictions in the country made the rule more and more difficult. Just like other European powers in the same period, nationalism began to play a more important role in political life. Prince Napoleon Bonaparte, who claimed to be the cousin of Napoleon III, was enthusiastically sought after by royalists, nationalists, and chauvinists, partly because of the loss of the Alsace-Lorraine region during the Franco-Prussian War. These two regions were republics. One of the most affluent areas. The transition from liberal left to right in the same period once triggered a serious political crisis. After the disillusionment of General George Blanche, the government's deliberate case of Dreyfus became the fuse to further deepen the political contradictions.
Polanski was criticized in the 18th #MeToo movement for his pedophile taint, and later he blamed the entire movement for "hysteria." Polanski managed to escape from a concentration camp when he was young, and was tortured because of his Polish Jewish identity. After personally experiencing the upsurge of anti-Semitism, he knew best about the terrible consequences of similar mass hysteria, so it is certainly not surprising that he made the above accusations. Polanski's aversion to fanaticism can also be reflected in "I Accuse". Instead of using sensational soundtracks, plots and performances to win the audience's sympathy for history or the director himself, he uses a calm narrative to attribute history to history. I won't talk more about whether Polanski has the tendency to allude to his own experience or justify himself in this film, but only talk about the film's conversion to history.
Alfred Dreyfus was promoted to colonel in 1889, and in 1893 he became the only Jew who served in the French Army General Staff. According to tradition, he is a naturalized Jew who considers himself a French citizen psychologically. After the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, he came to Paris with his family from Alsace. In the autumn of 1894, Republican intelligence agents discovered a secret military letter sent to the German Embassy in Paris, revealing a series of secondary secrets of the French army. Despite the lack of evidence, after a hasty secret trial and accusation, Dreyfus was publicly dismissed and demoted shamelessly on January 5, 1895, as shown at the beginning of the movie. After his stripes were torn and his sword was broken, Dreyfus shouted to the onlookers: "Soldiers, they are insulting an innocent person! Long live France! Long live the army!" But the French people at this time were not. Buy it, under the joint instigation of Edward De Lumont's anti-Semitism newspaper "Free Speech" and the right-wing anti-Semitic organization Patriot League, most French people have fallen into extreme hatred of 80,000 Jews in the Republic. Dreyfus was exiled to Alcatraz Island off the coast of French Guiana in South America.
Dreyfus’ younger brother, Matthew Dreyfus, never stopped redressing grievances. The new head of intelligence, George Piquart, also found new evidence and pointed the finger at French major Ferdinand Walcin Ess. Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy). However, the superiors refused to retry the Dreyfus case and temporarily assigned Piquart to Tunisia, the protected country of France. At the same time, Senator August Scheler Kestner strived for Dreyfus' innocence in the Senate. In contact with people from all walks of life, after consultations between the future Prime Minister of the Republic George Clemenceau (at this time a columnist for the Socialist Daily "Morning News") and the novelist Emile Zola, Zola in January 1898 The front page of the daily newspaper published an open letter entitled "I Accuse" ("J'accuse!") to President Felix Faure, condemning the military and the government for covering up the truth of the case. As a result, Zola was prosecuted by a military court and went into exile in Britain until the amnesty in 1899.
French politics is divided into two camps: the Catholic Church, the army, and the right wing formed the anti-Dreyfus faction and used anti-Semitism to maintain the original verdict; the socialists, moderate Republicans and radicals formed the Dreyfus faction, and some forces wanted to use it. The case reorganized the government. In the summer of 1898, the military court reiterated the Dreyfus case, and public opinion turned to Dreyfus. In September, the military court still found Dreyfus guilty, but "excusable." The President of the Republic Emile Rubet pardoned Dreyfus, but Dreyfus was still dissatisfied. He said: "The government of the Republic has returned my freedom to me. Without my honor, this is nothing to me. Meaningless."
It was not until July 12, 1906 that the Military Commission officially declared Dreyfus innocent. He re-enlisted and was promoted to major. A week later, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor, returned to the French army in World War I, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the end of the war. Dreyfus died in Paris on July 12, 1935, at the age of 75.
The Dreyfus case directly led to the intensification of the contradiction between the radicals and the right wing. After the victory of the general election, the "Secular Law" (1905) was promulgated, which established the principle of separation of church and state in France. The incident also shocked Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, and put Zionism on the agenda. The election of the radicals also determines the aggressive nationalist line of the French government in the future. The Dreyfus incident can be regarded as a successful "popular hysteria", as Polanski himself has experienced many times.
But no matter how turbulent the French political situation is and whether the regulations can be passed, justice has been served. As in the film, Picquat responded when he asked Dreyfus: "Because this is the right thing."
In the age of darkness and madness, "I sue!" is the most powerful weapon. Si recently had a conversation with a Kaifeng fellow at a dinner party. This person is working in Beijing. He said, "Writing, even if you don't say something, don't kneel and lick it!"
Silence can also be an accusation, but paralysis is never.
I did not feel desperate for a moment, I knew the truth would prevail. I am convinced-I repeat-I am more convinced than before that the truth is moving forward and that nothing can stop it. This incident has just begun, because the current situation is crystal clear: on the one hand, the perpetrators do not want to reveal the truth, and on the other hand, the defenders of justice will use their lives to witness justice. I have said it elsewhere, and now I repeat it here: if truth is buried in the ground, it will sprout and grow; once it erupts one day, everything will be blown up. Time will prove everything, and we will know whether we are prepared for the catastrophe in the future. ——"I sue...! 》
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