MovieChat Forums > I Accuse! (1959) Discussion > Glosses over anti-semitism

Glosses over anti-semitism

posted 12 years ago by lvrepoman
3 replies | jump to latest

The main point of the Dreyfus Affair was anti-semitism, but this subject is fairly well glossed over in this movie. I wonder why this is? Was this point too touchy in 1958? Was the studio afraid of offending French sensibilities? After all, a good many Frenchmen living at the time were complicit in the deportation of Jews out of France to the Death Camps in the second world war.

Actually, it seems to me that the villains in this story (and there were definitely villains) were treated much better than they deserved. Perhaps, in 1958, the entire subject of the Dreyfus affair was still too controversial in France. This would not be the first time the movie studios steered clear of touchy subjects. I just hope that anyone viewing this film today realizes that they are seeing a sanitized version of what actually happened.

"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

[–] antares60 12 years ago

I don't think it was because too touchy, I just think that Ferrer wanted to focus on Dreyfus' suffering. In The Life of Emile Zola, with Paul Muni, they played up the anti-semitism much stronger and that film was made in the late 30's, at the height of the production code.

[–] mdonln 9 years ago

I don't think that's the point the moviemakers were trying to make. The anti-Semitism factor is shown in the movie. They just didn't beat us over the head with it; it's subtle.

Most people can see what was done to Dreyfus was unfair and wrong but, sadly, if the anti-Semitism, that was clearly behind much of what took place, was played up some people might try to rationalize or minimize what happened.

Some might think it was due to the time period in which the incidents occurred. The truth is things like this have always happened and continue to happen even today.

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 9 years ago

I don't see how it's glossed over. Dreyfus's Judaism is made a big deal of by his accusers early in the film, before his actual conviction. Afterwards the government is more concerned about saving face over a major wrong, so it is backgrounded later in the film. But that's only following the story's natural arc.

[b]I'm afraid that you underestimate the number of subjects in which I take an interest!/b]