Summary
Having killed a man in Paris, Pierre Gilieth flees to Barcelona where he enlists in the
Spanish Legion. Here he meets up with fellow countrymen Mulot and Lucas, and falls
in love with a Moroccan girl, Aischa. Unbeknown to Pierre, Lucas is a detective
who intends to betray him to the authorities...
Review
La Bandera is one of Julien Duvivier’s most memorable films, providing a satisfying
and early example of poetic realism, albeit in a setting far removed from contemporary
France. Although not nearly as ambitious or daring as the religious epic,
Golgotha, which Duvivier made immediately before this film, La Bandera is
a worthy film which presages many of the director’s subsequent great works (most obviously
Pépé-le-moko
).
Perhaps more significantly, this film offers Jean Gabin his first major role in a series
of great films which would quickly establish him as an icon of 1930s French cinema.
The film also features three other notable actors of the period, Robert Le Vigan, Pierre
Renoir and Annabella (although the latter is almost disfigured by the heavy make-up she
had to wear for her part as the Moroccan woman in this film).
As in many of Duvivier’s subsequent films (such as La
Belle équipe and Pépé-le-Moko
), La Bandera is a masterfully woven psychological drama which is tightly
focused on the interaction between its principal protagonists (here the compelling rivalry
between Pierre and Lucas). The exotic location is far less important, as is the
absence of any set-piece battles (unusual for a legionnaire film). Duvivier is far
more concerned with exploring the frailties and redeeming qualities of human nature, a
characteristic which makes his films both compelling and relevant to any generation of
cinemagoer.
The film’s tragic ending was surprising at the time, although it proved to be a successful
and oft-repeated formula in French films of the late 1930s (reflecting the change in mood
of the country at the time).
© James Travers 2002
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