The Sorrow and the Pity

"I can't remember." "How can you forget?" Ophuls (who mercifully omits the umlaut in the original spelling of his name, unlike his well-known father prior to receiving French citizenship) delivers a fantastically in-depth exploration of the Nazi occupation of France in the Second World War, taking advantage of extensive archival research and employing a tremendous range in selecting the subjects of his interviews, representing multiple perspectives in a conflict that is often far more simplified than the multifaceted event that truly took place. His narrative takes into account geopolitical factors, various propaganda and social movements, and cultural divides that led to vastly different reactions to the presence of the Germans across France, when the reality on the ground did not reflect the moral consensus that was formed in later years. Though it is painfully easy to lump any individual that didn't plot sabotage campaigns from dimly lit basements under the label of 'collaborator', the reality is that such relationships were far more nuanced than most would like to admit; Ophuls grabs onto that ambiguity as a narrative device, singling out those that may have offered some sympathy to the foreign invaders out of a sense of self-preservation or courtesy, and confronting them with uncomfortable questions that force them to confront the rationalizations that they have made to wash their hands in subsequent years. There are plenty of subplots about individuals fully embracing Nazi ideology (for which they were later either roundly condemned or shunned), but it is often those moments in which interviewees that simply were living their lives in Vichy France realize that their actions, though innocent enough independently, may have contributed to a larger evil that the narrative power shines through. Also, an actual quote from the film, a testimony from an English spy that gets dropped out of nowhere: "I was a transvestite singer in Paris in 'Le Grande Ecart' for three months, and in 'La Cave Caucasienne' for a long time." Where oh where is my movie adaptation of that bombshell? (4/5)

Hard to watch, VERY long, gruelling and ...unmissable!

This two-part documentary analyzes the occupation of France in World War II through the example of a city with a population of approximately 100,000 people. The spirit of the time is quite well conveyed with the use of archive materials, as well as interviews with members of the resistance movement, collaborators with the occupying forces, and German soldiers who participated in the occupation. Everyone is given the space to express their views and explain the logic that guided them during the war. A side of French history, today mostly hidden, is presented: dark and shameful collaboration, but also the heroic resistance to the occupation - all this in the context of a true civilizational tragedy. The film has been banned in France for more than ten years (it wasn't aired on TV until 1981), supposedly because it was too one-sided, but in fact because it showed the extent of the collaboration and the burden of historical responsibility for the committed crimes - a history that was rushed to be forgotten, in order not to disturb the post-war social consensus and the re-established status quo.

1001 movies to see before you die. This exhaustive documentary confronts a very touchy subject and does so fairly well. The 4 hour time though!

Truly magnificent. Opfuls, like his director father, allows his subjects to speak for themselves and sometimes incriminate themselves. Not always easy to follow, and perhaps deliberately--the pity and the fog of war.

THE SORROW AND THE PITY is a staggering account of the French town of Clermont-Ferrand under Nazi occupation, and those who dealt with it- particularly the Jewish residents and those who knew them. This will probably go down as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.

8/20/16 Sundance Doc Club Again a documentary does what no studio film could. A detailed and carefully crafted story about occupation, collaboration and revenge this story told through extensive interviews interspersed with news reel film is so compelling that the 4 hour length flies by. This is an important part of WW ll history that can't be missed.

It was my favourite documentary, up until the "Up" series took the top spot. Full review at filmbroadcaster.weebly.com

Marcel Ophuls provides little explicit commentary and lets his interviewees speak for themselves in this 4 hour oral history of one town (Clermont-Ferrand) in Occupied France during WWII. Nevertheless, the story that unfolds is one of complicity with the invading Nazis and neighbor turning against neighbor -- hence, the title: both sorrow and pity are felt toward the French. As Anthony Eden (former British PM) comments, unless your country has been occupied by a foreign power, you are in no position to judge how people respond to this unfortunate situation. It is tragic in its humanity. A better knowledge of French history might have increased the insights on offer to me, but my interest in social psychology made this a fascinating (if saddening) watch.

It took me three sittings to get through the four and a quarter hours running time. Was it worth it? absolutely