Cast: Simon Abkarian , Niels Schneider, Anamaria Vartolomei, Félix Kysyl Review by Carol Allen
There are three main strands to the film. Like part one, it focuses far more on the war in North Africa, where the Free French army were fighting, and most particularly on the courage and stubbornness of De Gaulle’s good friend General Leclerc (Niels Schneider), who takes on and defeats a battalion of German panzers, even though his men are vastly outnumbered.
Secondly we see a lot more of the resistance battle inside France itself, both through the work of Livia (Anamaria Vartolomei) and of Jean Moulin (Félix Kysyl) who manages to unite all the different factions and lead them with great courage. Most fascinating however is De Gaulle’s political battle against the domination ambitions of America’s President Roosevelt (Campbell Scott).
With the support of General Giraud (an unrecognizable former matinee idol Thierry Lhermitte), who has no qualms about collaborating with the Pétain puppet government in Vichy, Roosevelt proposes taking a large slice of Northern France and Southern Belgium after the war is won to form New Wallonia as a bulwark against Germany, with that and what is left of France being subject to American military rule along with defeated enemies Germany and Italy.
Well Free France wasn’t going to stand for that one and the scenes of De Gaulle putting his foot down with a firm hand at the Casablanca conference on this are riveting. Though not as prominent as in the first film, Simon Russell-Beale is there as Winston Churchill, supporting Roosevelt and again, after the war is over, making it very clear to his sometime friend that when push comes to shove, he will always choose the special relationship with America over friendship with Europe. Which maybe gives us the historical root of the complex situation we are in today with regard to the UK’s relationship with Europe.
The film also gives us a new viewpoint on the D-Day landings, which we are used to seeing from an American or sometimes a British point of view. The Free French army was there too, you know. We see De Gaulle putting the pressure on General Eisenhower (Daniel Betts), who has orders to lead the liberation of Paris but yields to our hero. First into Paris to liberate the jewel in France’s crown and be welcomed by its citizens is the Free French army. Vive la France!
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