In the cinema, a new work finally treats the Second World War in a less Manichean way

The great History is made by heroes and bastards, but also by half-heroes and half-bastards, and by heroes in spite of themselves and bastards in spite of themselves. In short, men. Especially when they are at war. This evidence is dazzlingly demonstrated by filmmaker Xavier Giannoli inRays and Shadows , which attracted nearly a million spectators. It was emulated.

At the Cannes Film Festival, which ended this Saturday, no less than five films presented deepened the wounds and memories of the Second World War. Singularly, the two feature films which one could imagine would be hagiography do not lapse into heroism at all. On the contrary, almost.Moulin, by the Hungarian László Nemes, follows the last days of the former prefect before his arrest, then his interrogations and his detention supervised by Klaus Barbie. All in Melvillian moderation and restraint, Gilles Lellouche embodies “Max” with perfect accuracy…