Rome, October 29 (askanews) – Director Antonin Baudry brought to the screen a legendary figure in French history, General Charles de Gaulle, with the film "La Bataille de Gaulle," which grossed €5 million in France and will be released in Italy next year. The author of this rigorous, yet humorous and humane, portrait of the hero who led the French Resistance came to Rome to present the first part of the film, "The Resistance."
"De Gaulle is a unique and unconventional hero: an unknown person who had to flee his own country, fought against his own government, created a new country, Free France, which everyone thought was madness, and ultimately won," the director explained. "He's certainly not a Hollywood hero: he denies reality, in fact, he believes that France cannot be weak, cannot capitulate, and he pursues his own idea, like a medieval knight who thinks his woman is perfect."
The first part of the film begins in June 1940, the date of the armistice with the Germans signed by Pétin, to show the soldier who refuses to give up, flees to London, where he confronts and clashes with Churchill, and then manages to convince resistance fighters, high school students and soldiers in England, France and Africa, that the battle is not yet lost.
A sort of Don Quixote, in short, as the director explained: "Both were denying reality. He tells Churchill: France has not capitulated! He has the same spirit as Don Quixote, who lives in a parallel world, but De Gaulle insists, insists, insists, and manages to transform reality. I think he can also be an example for us today, when we think we can't change what happens: the film shows that we must always hope."
Askanews