Francofonia

[TruthBTold]

I know that it is a couple of years old but I was really effected by the film, both because of the way it was shot and because of its subject matter. It is hard to describe the film because it has many levels; history of the Louvre (particularly during WWII), biopic regarding the two gentlemen (French and German) who saved much of Western art during the war, and philosophical meditations on art, history, war, and the effects of humanity on art and art on humanity. The director has done a previous film (The Russian Ark) regarding his home country's national museum, The Hermitage. One relevant thing I noticed was the effect that Nazi anti-Slavic thought had on how Germany treated Russia during its attack on that country versus how it treated France once it had her in its grip. Another thing I thought odd was that there was little discussion about how so much effort went into saving the physical manifestations of culture versus the small effort that went into saving people, e.g., the Jews. The director does have a couple of weird things that are funny but sort of make sense, e.g., Napoleon and Marianne running around the Louvre.