Review of An Officer and a Spy

Historical drama. The adaptation of the novel "I blame" by the English writer Robert Harris, in turn based on real events. Again, the Russian distributors decided to show off, and translated the title of the picture not literally "I blame", but "The officer and the spy." For a long time I have not watched the new items, and then a new picture of the eminent director Roman Polansky arrived, and just touching on an interesting topic. How could I get past? And here's my brief opinion - justice is above prejudice. Unfortunately, the picture was not without its drawbacks, so I intend to analyze both them and the advantages. Therefore, without further ado, I'm starting. So the pros: 1. The topic touched upon - the picture focuses on the Dreyfus affair - a high-profile social and political scandal of the late nineteenth - early twentieth century, when Captain Alfred Dreyfus was accused of high treason and espionage for Germany. An important role in the conviction was played by the captain's nationality - he was a Jew. Waiting for him: a shameful trial, demotion, exile and many years to restore justice. Of course, the real spy was installed, and the captain was acquitted and reinstated in rank and in the army, but the sediment remained. This process showed the depth of prejudice against Jews and a complete disregard for establishing the truth. The Dreyfus case was filmed for the fourth time. 2. The story told is a mixture of detective and forensic drama, a genre very popular in Western cinema in the second half of the twentieth century. The story focuses on Colonel Marie-Georges Picard, the new chief of military counterintelligence, who has barely started his duties when he begins to realize that the Dreyfus case is not as straightforward as it might seem. He begins his own investigation, until he realizes that by doing this he set in motion the forces that are not interested in discovering the truth, because otherwise heads will fly and shame will not come true. The colonel is forced to improvise, torn between duty and conscience. In a little over two hours, we were able to fully convey all the ins and outs of this matter and the mood of French society at that time. Shows the courage of the colonel and his associates in this difficult matter. The script arouses interest, captivates, and even intrigues the uninitiated. Well, the ending pleases. 3. Costumes, scenery - I'm sure that everything was filmed on location, so I'm calm about the reliability of the scenery. The costumes delighted me as a lover of historical and military films. Before us is the French army as it is, with familiar attributes, ranks, and so on. So the cons: 1. The protractedness of some scenes is exactly that of some. Like the initial one, which takes too long, and a few more. Reduce them and the painting or its story has nothing to lose. 2. The abrupt transition to the final - it stunned me a little. Only now there was complete hopelessness, and oops - an obvious and historically famous ending. What's that called? Who cut out a whole piece of the script? Find me please! 3. Understatement - why didn't they say that the disgraced military had shaken off the real spy abroad? And where is the story about the further destinies of the heroes of both the first and the second plan? The viewer has to find out all this himself or what? It seems that we have a historical picture, but at the same time they say A, and do not say B. A little about the main characters: 1. Marie-Georges Picard, played by Jean Dujardin, is a colonel in the French army and the new chief of military counterintelligence, who will have to establish the truth in the Dreyfus case. He will have to test all his qualities, including courage and courage, not forgetting about justice and truth, because he is driven only by love for his country and its national security. Jean perfectly played Colonel Picard, you believe in his emotions! Well done! 2. Alfred Dreyfus performed by Louis Garrel - the captain of the French army, because of his Jewish origin and as a result of false evidence, is accused of high treason. He will have to go through exile, many years of struggle to overturn the sentence. Louis quite successfully conveyed the emotions of this hero. I can't even imagine how much courage it took the captain to endure all the humiliation and restore his good name. This picture was released in limited rental, so it did not collect as much as it should have. They even brought a copy to our Russian province, although there was only one session, and that evening, so I safely ignored it. I can only praise Roman Polansky for this work, because his last "Based on real events" was, to put it mildly, average. As a result, we have a good historical drama by the eminent Roman Polansky about the Dreyfus affair, with a good script, excellent costumes and sets, not without drawbacks, but with good acting.