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Les Croix de bois
1932 Drama / War
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Credits
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Director: Raymond Bernard
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Script: Raymond Bernard, Roland Dorgelès (novel), André Lang
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Photo: Jules Kruger, René Ribault
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Cast: Pierre Blanchar (Adjudant Gilbert Demachy),
Gabriel Gabrio (Sulphart),
Charles Vanel (Caporal Breval),
Raymond Aimos (Soldat Fouillard),
Antonin Artaud (Soldat Vieublé),
Paul Azaïs (Soldat Broucke),
René Bergeron (Soldat Hamel),
Raymond Cordy (Soldat Vairon),
Marcel Delaître (Sergent Berthier),
Jean Galland (Capitaine Cruchet),
Pierre Labry (Soldat Bouffioux,
le cuistot)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 110 min; B&W
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Aka: Wooden Crosses
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Summary
At the outbreak of World War I, Gilbert Demachy, an idealistic young student, enlists
and is sent to the front to fight for his motherland, France. It is not long before
he experiences his first taste of battle, in the muddy wastes of no man's land.
Amidst the blazing gunfire and cacophony of exploding shells, he sees his comrades obliterated,
one by one. The time away from this battlefield of death is but a brief respite.
Yet, amid these scenes from Hell, Demachy clings to life, hoping once more to be reunited
with the woman he loves…
Review
Les Croix de bois is arguably the most harrowing,
most realistic, most memorable war film ever made in France, and bears a favourable comparison
with Lewis Milestone’s legendary American equivalent,
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).
Based on a well-known novel by Roland Dorgelès (first published in 1919), the film
shows the horror of the Great War through the eyes of an ordinary young man – and that’s
“horror” writ with a capital H.
The film combines some startlingly imaginative expressionistic touches (most notably,
the final shot of the dead soldiers carrying their wooden crosses) with an extraordinary
sense of realism, achieved through some stunning battle scene reconstructions.
The film’s cast comprises mainly war veterans from the First World War, including the
two leads: Charles Vanel and Pierre Blanchar. This gives the film a
level of authenticity almost unprecedented in a war film, which, combined with the static
matter-of-fact cinematography, gives the film a harsh, documentary-style edge.
And it’s incredible how much suffering and misery the film manages to convey. The
relentless explosions in the seemingly endless battle sequences bring home the unimaginable
horror of war, whilst the cries of wounded soldiers have a horribly visceral feel.
Most unsettling is the film’s closing sequence, which shows a night-time battlefield strewn
with wounded soldiers who, like the film’s hero, endure an agonising, drawn out death,
calling for help that will never come as they struggle to hold onto life.
Les
Croix de bois is an ordeal of a film, a necessary post-war catharsis that conveys
the true horror of war with devastating effectiveness. Whilst it may lack the poetry
of Milestone’s film, its humanity is just as great, its anti-war message just as effective.
“Never again” is what the film screams to us. It’s a horrible irony that within
seven years of the film’s release, the world would was once more be engulfed by war.
© James Travers 2006
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