Adaneth - History&Politics

A 1999 Galafilm/PTV Production History Documentary series narrated by Kenneth Welsh. Click on CC for English subtitles. This four-part series takes a look at this short but intense conflict between the newly formed United States, and Canada and Great Britain. The series covers events from 1812 to 1815, plus the repatriation of remains from Fort Erie to the United States. This is a complete account of the military history of the War of 1812. The series meticulously examines the war’s causes, principals, strategies (and blunders), and its legacy. It captures the viewers’ interest by presenting personal accounts of the war and how these individual personalities reflected and affected its outcome. The series pays particular attention to the motivations of principals through close examination of primary documents, such as personal letters and military communiqués. The series brings to life an extraordinary, but not well understood conflict that decided the fate of North America, confirmed the creation of Canada, and annihilated for all time the dream of an independent Native nation. Episode 1: Tensions mount between the United States and Great Britain. War is inevitable. The British general Isaac Brock sends troops to take Fort Mackinac, leading to the first victory of the war. Brock signs an agreement with Tecumseh, forging an alliance between the British and Canada's First Nations.

Episode 2: Under the leadership of the legendary Tecumseh the native Shawnee people rallied together to oppose the conquering white men and their cultural influences such as alcohol. Future President William Henry Harrison admired the leadership and genius of Tecumseh but was tasked with ending his rebellion. This episode uses actors to recreate the conversations and correspondence between these two leaders.

Isabella d'Este (Ferrara, 1474 - Mantova, 1539), è stata una nobile, mecenate e collezionista d'arte italiana. Definita già dalle fonti a lei coeve "la prima donna del mondo", rappresenta una delle più luminose figure del panorama del Rinascimento italiano. Fu reggente del marchesato di Mantova per quasi un anno durante l'assenza del marito Francesco II Gonzaga e per due anni durante la minorità del figlio Federico. Fu una delle donne più autorevoli del Rinascimento e del mondo culturale italiano del suo tempo. Fu mecenate delle arti, nonché capofila della moda, il cui innovativo stile di vestire venne copiato da numerose nobildonne. Il poeta Ludovico Ariosto la etichettò come "Isabella liberale e magnanima". Pietro Bembo, la descrisse come "una delle più sagge e più fortunate tra le donne", mentre Matteo Bandello la descrisse come "suprema tra le donne". Niccolò da Correggio andò anche oltre, salutandola come "La prima donna del mondo". Primogenita del duca Ercole di Ferrara e di Eleonora d'Aragona, a soli sei anni venne promessa in sposa a Francesco II Gonzaga, rampollo dei Signori di Mantova. Giunta a Mantova nel 1480, Isabella diede qui vita a una delle corti più colte e raffinate del tempo. Animata da un "insaciabile desiderio de cose antique", raccolse nel suo studiolo una preziosa collezione di antichità. Consapevole delle proprie straordinarie virtù, fisiche e intellettuali, affidò la propria immagine al pennello di alcuni fra i più illustri artisti del tempo. E - unica nella storia - fu ritratta da Leonardo da Vinci e da Tiziano Vecellio, privilegio di cui non godettero al suo tempo né sovrani, né imperatori, né papi. Esigente committente, affidò la decorazione del proprio studiolo a pittori quali Andrea Mantegna, Lorenzo Costa, Pietro Perugino e Correggio. Raffinata maestra di eleganze, plasmò a suo gusto la moda del tempo, diventando un modello di riferimento non solo per le corti italiane, ma anche per quelle d'Oltralpe. Oggigiorno è conosciuta come la primadonna del Rinascimento, secondo un'espressione coniata dagli studiosi moderni.

A 2013 History Documentary hosted by Thomas Penn. Click on CC for English subtitles. Author Thomas Penn takes an extraordinary journey into the dark and chilling world of the first Tudor, Henry VII. From his victory over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth to his secret death and the succession of his son Henry VIII, this programme reveals the ruthless tactics Henry VII used to win - and cling on to - the ultimate prize, the throne of England. Exploring magnificent buildings and long lost documents, Penn reveals the true story of this suspicious, enigmatic and terrifying monarch.

Un Documentario del 2022 sul Grande Assedio di Malta del 1565. L'assedio di Malta del 1565, noto anche come il Grande Assedio di Malta, fu un assedio stretto dall'Impero ottomano, deciso a conquistare Malta, per eliminare l'Ordine ospedaliero di San Giovanni; la strenua difesa dei cavalieri e dei maltesi obbligò gli Ottomani a desistere dopo quasi quattro mesi. Malta è situata a sud della Sicilia e quasi equidistante dalle coste libiche e tunisine. Oltre a controllare il commercio tra le rotte occidentali e orientali del mar Mediterraneo, era dotata di eccellenti porti naturali che facevano dell'isola una roccaforte di notevole importanza strategica. Nel XVI secolo infatti, il Mediterraneo era diventato ormai un lago islamico, soprattutto dopo la caduta di Costantinopoli nel 1453 e la sconfitta di Gerba. I corsari barbareschi, guidati dai loro comandanti Dragut e Occhialì, compivano razzie e depredavano i convogli navali con ingenti danni per i cristiani che non trovavano accordi con l'Impero ottomano, in quel periodo guidato da Solimano il Magnifico. La caduta dell'isola, ultimo baluardo di difesa della Cristianità, avrebbe avuto conseguenze disastrose per tutta l'Europa, data la debolezza e la litigiosità delle potenze europee. L'assedio è considerato uno dei maggiori successi per i difensori nella storia militare. Tuttavia, non dovrebbe essere visto come un evento isolato, ma come il picco di una escalation delle ostilità tra spagnoli e Ottomani per il controllo del Mediterraneo.

Episode 7: Odysseus' fleet tries to avoid Charybdis, the first sea monster ready to swallow them, but Scylla, a horrible multi-headed creature, destroys three of his ships. The last few hours have been grueling, and the sailors want to rest on the island of Helios, which is now in sight. Odysseus has been warned by Tiresias: under no circumstances should they harm the Sun God's cows, or else they will all lose their lives. The sailors promise. But after a few days, awaiting for Odysseus to fall asleep, they slaughter the animals and devour them. Odysseus is at his wit's end, and all flee. Helios demands a penalty from Zeus, who is happy to oblige. After this terrible storm, Odysseus is alone. He is drifting off on flotsam and jetsam, to the island of Calypso, who falls in love with him. She comforts him and looks after him. She even offers him... immortality.

Episode 8: Odysseus has been living out peaceful days with Calypso for 7 years. But waves of nostalgia wash over him, and the memories of his wife, his son and his island never cease to torment him. Hermes, sent by Zeus, under pressure from Athena, comes to ask Calypso to let the king of Ithaca leave. But Poseidon, still obsessed with revenge, destroys his boat and Odysseus finds himself alone on the shore of an unknown island, once again. Meanwhile, Telemachus, who left for Sparta to meet Menelaus, returns to Ithaca. He tells his mother that Odysseus is alive and leaves, getting out of the Suitors’ reach – as they are trying to set him up. Odysseus, for his part, meets the Princess Nausicaa who leads him to her parents. At a banquet, he tells the story of his never-ending journey that moves the Phaeacians. They promise to take him to Ithaca. But at the end of the crossing, Odysseus does not recognize the island where they shipped him. Once again, he feels cursed by the gods.

Episode 9: The Suitors, informed by Melantho – one of Penelope's servants – learned that the queen had fooled them. They locked her up in the gynaeceum. Meanwhile, Odysseus meets Athena who tells him that he is indeed in Ithaca. Joy gives way to anger against the one who, according to him, has abandoned him. She however turns him into a beggar so that he will go unnoticed, and advises him to take refuge with Eumaeus, the pig farmer. There, he finds his son Telemachus. The two of them then go to the palace. Odysseus, under his beggar's clothes, is mistreated by the Suitors who are celebrating the king's death. Eurycleia, the palace’s old maid, proposes to wash his feet, and recognizes the scar of her long-lost master. But Odysseus asks her to remain silent...

Episode 10: Penelope is now forced to choose a husband among the Suitors. She offers them a test to decide who among them is the most worthy: with the bow of Odysseus, they must shoot an arrow and pass it through twelve axes. Telemachus, then the Suitors test their mettle without success, before the beggar also offers to try his luck. He succeeds, and reveals his true face: he is Odysseus, the legitimate king of Ithaca. The massacre of the Suitors begins. Later, Telemachus has all the servants who betrayed Penelope hanged. Odysseus then convinces Penelope of his identity. Faced with Athena, he asserts his beliefs: the gods, who have allowed the massacre of Troy, are unjust, and no longer deserve to be worshiped. Zeus then understands that the end of the gods is near. The rest of Odysseus’ life is told by the poets. Some say that he was killed by Telegonus, son of Circe, father unknown. Odysseus, the great hero is also a mere mortal. The thread of his life is cut, as his condition implies.

Episode 6: Curiosity getting the best of him, Odysseus delves into the depths of the Underworld. He meets the souls of the Greek heroes who fought with him in the city of Troy. Agamemnon, first, who tells him about his terrible death. Then the divine Achilles, whose exploits will be sung for a long time to come. But Achilles tells him that he regrets having died in glory, rather than living a peaceful existence. Odysseus, back on his boat, resents the gods for having condemned his brave companions to death. But he soon faces another danger: the Sirens. He covers his men's ears and asks them to tie him securely to the ship's mast, so that he can hear their infamous song. But for the fleet, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire: after the sirens are gone, they are faced with Charybdis and Scylla, two sea monsters ready to swallow them up...

Episode 4: In Ithaca, Queen Penelope endures the presence of Suitors who covet her hand, and the throne of her husband Odysseus – who disappeared more than 10 years ago. She devises a stratagem: she tells them that she will marry one of them when she has finished weaving a burial shroud for old Laertes, Odysseus’ father. Meanwhile, on the sea, Odysseus' men are reeling from the ordeals they have gone through. Once bitten twice shy, they approach the next island with extra caution. Setting out as scouts, some of them meet the witch Circe in her home. But after welcoming and feeding them, she turns them into pigs. Helped by the god Hermes, Odysseus in turn confronts the witch. Beguiled by the warrior she was waiting for, she gives the sailors their appearance back. They all decide to stay for a while on this island that turned out quite welcoming.

Episode 5: A year has passed. It is time for Odysseus and his men to leave the witch Circe’s island and return to Ithaca. To do so, they must first go to meet the prophet Tiresias in the Underworld. Only he can tell them what to do to appease Poseidon's wrath. So they leave for the land of the Cimmerians where, after having made a sacrifice to attract the soul of Tiresias, they are soon assailed by ghosts. Odysseus speaks with his mother, Anticlea, who died of grief. Then with Tiresias who tells them about the difficulties they will encounter, and how to avoid them. From Olympus, Zeus is enraged to know that once again, Odysseus defies the gods by going to hell, a place forbidden to mortals...

Episode 3: Odysseus and his companions are trapped in the Cyclops’ cave. But he is a man with a plan. He carves out a stake and, after having drunk Polyphemus under the table, drives it into his one eye. The men escape thanks to one last trick: they tie themselves up to the sheep's underbellies to get out of the cave right under the Cyclops’ nose. Alas, when he reaches his boat, Odysseus’s anger gets the best of him: he reveals his name to the Cyclops, who calls upon his father, the god Poseidon, to avenge him. Immediately, a storm erupts.The battered fleet has to land on the island of Aeolus, who offers them a wineskin holding all the winds that could prevent them from reaching their destination, Ithaca. But, convinced that it contains a treasure, the sailors seize it. Their greed releases a flurry of winds that push them back to Aeolus’. This time, convinced that a curse weighs on Odysseus, the master of the winds refuses to help him...

A 2020 Arte France - Rosebud Production, History, Animation, Fantasy Documentary series with English narration. Ten years after the sack of Troy by the Greek army, Zeus is alone on Olympus, left alone in his palace by the other gods. His daughter Athena is the only one remaining at his side. She tries to convince her father to help Odysseus, the last Greek fighter who has not yet returned home to Ithaca. Episode 2: There, his wife Penelope is under pressure from her Suitors, who dream of taking Odysseus’ throne. Aided by the goddess Athena, his son Telemachus decides to go to Sparta – the home of King Menelaus. As he got home from Troy several years ago already, he tells Telemachus about the death of his brother, the king of kings Agamemnon. But above all, he tells him of what he learned on his way back: Odysseus is still alive.

Episode 2: 10 years earlier, as the Greek warriors had just razed Troy. Devastated by this “war for nothing” which has caused so many deaths, Odysseus is indignant against the gods, guilty of having let this carnage happen. He wishes for nothing more than to return to his kingdom, the island of Ithaca. During his crew's first stopover at the Cicones’, he stops the fighting, appalled. Further down the road, he meets the Lotus-eaters, who offer him a fruit that can make him forget everything. But Athena intervenes to prevent him from ingesting it. He finally arrives on the Cyclopes’ island, which piques his interest. But curiosity killed the cat: Odysseus and his companions have a deadly encounter with Polyphemus in his cave. The cyclops kills two men before our hero can even dare to move...

A 2007 BBC Documentary hosted by Joan Washington. Our understanding of Edwardian Britain is dominated by images from flickering footage and formal family portraits. But a remarkable discovery has been made which for the first time gives voice to the Edwardians. Hundreds of recordings have come to light which reveal the accents and dialects of British Prisoners of War held in German camps and recorded during World War One. This archive presents a unique glimpse into the way ordinary men spoke at the time. Joan Washington, a voice coach and expert in British accents, sets out to tell the story of these recordings and piece together how the Edwardians spoke. She returns to the hometowns of some of the prisoners to meet their families and play them the recordings. Listening with an expert ear to the differences between the voices of the prisoners and their families, Joan explores how far all these accents have changed over the century.

A 2002 British television documentary series by filmmaker Adam Curtis examining how Freudian theory influenced twentieth century society. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed our perception of the mind and its workings. The documentary explores the various ways that governments, global organizations and corporations have used Freud's theories. Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed in part one. His daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychoanalysis, is mentioned in part two. Wilhelm Reich, an opponent of Freud's theories, is discussed in part three. In episode one, Curtis says, "This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." Along these lines, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of consumerism and commodification and their implications. It also questions the modern way people see themselves, the attitudes to fashion, and superficiality. The business and political worlds use psychological techniques to read, create and fulfill the desires of the public, and to make their products and speeches as pleasing as possible to consumers and voters. Curtis questions the intentions and origins of this relatively new approach to engaging the public. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a group, Stuart Ewen, a historian of public relations, argues that politicians now appeal to primitive impulses that have little bearing on issues outside the narrow self-interests of a consumer society. The words of Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in 1927, are cited: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs." Episode 1. The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires. Bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticising the motorcar. His most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile. It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today's world.

Episode 2: The programme explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany. To stop it ever happening again they set out to find ways to control this hidden enemy within the human mind. Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays, provided the centrepiece philosophy. The US government, big business, and the CIA used their ideas to develop techniques to manage and control the minds of the American people. But this was not a cynical exercise in manipulation. Those in power believed that the only way to make democracy work and create a stable society was to repress the savage barbarism that lurked just under the surface of normal American life.

Episode 3: In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas in America. They were inspired by the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, a pupil of Freud's, who had turned against him and was hated by the Freud family. He believed that the inner self did not need to be repressed and controlled. It should be encouraged to express itself. Out of this came a political movement that sought to create new beings free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people's minds by business and politics. This programme shows how this rapidly developed in America through self-help movements like Werber Erhard's Erhard Seminar Training - into the irresistible rise of the expressive self: the Me Generation. But the American corporations soon realised that this new self was not a threat but their greatest opportunity. It was in their interest to encourage people to feel they were unique individuals and then sell them ways to express that individuality. To do this they turned to techniques developed by Freudian psychoanalysts to read the inner desires of the new self.

Episode 4: In part four the main subjects are Philip Gould, a political strategist, and Matthew Freud, a PR consultant and the great-grandson of Sigmund Freud. In the 1990s, they were instrumental to bringing the Democratic Party in the US and New Labour in the United Kingdom back into power through use of the focus group, originally invented by psychoanalysts employed by US corporations to allow consumers to express their feelings and needs, just as patients do in psychotherapy. This episode explains how politicians on the left, in both Britain and America, turned to the techniques developed by business to read and fulfil the inner desires of the self. Both New Labour, under Tony Blair, and the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group, which had been invented by psychoanalysts, in order to regain power. They set out to mould their policies to people's inner desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learnt to do with products. Out of this grew a new culture of public relations and marketing in politics, business and journalism. One of its stars in Britain was Matthew Freud who followed in the footsteps of his relation, Edward Bernays, the inventor of public relations in the 1920s. The politicians believed they were creating a new and better form of democracy, one that truly responded to the inner feelings of individual. But what they didn't realise was that the aim of those who had originally created these techniques had not been to liberate the people but to develop a new way of controlling them. Curtis ends by saying that, "Although we feel we are free, in reality, we—like the politicians—have become the slaves of our own desires," and compares Britain and America to 'Democracity', an exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair created by Edward Bernays. Contributors on this series: Dr Alfred Pritz, President, World Council for Psychotherapy Countess Erzie Károlyi Edward Bernays (interviewed 1991) Pat Jackson, PR adviser and colleague of Edward Bernays Peter Strauss, employee of Edward Bernays 1948–52 Peter Solomon, investment banker, Lehman Brothers Stuart Ewen, historian of public relations Dr Ernst Federn, Viennese psychoanalyst Anne Bernays, daughter of Edward Bernays George Gallup Jr., pollster Marcel Faust, resident of Vienna, 1930s Prof. Martin Bergmann, psychoanalyst, US Army 1943–45 Ellen Herman, historian of American psychology Anton Freud, Anna Freud's nephew Michael Burlingham, Dorothy Burlingham's grandson Dr Robert Wallerstein, psychoanalyst, Menninger Clinic 1949–66 Dr Harold Blum, psychoanalyst Dr Neil Smelser, political theorist and psychoanalyst Fritz Gehagen, psychoanalyst and employee of Ernest Dichter Hedy Dichter, wife of Ernest Dichter Bill Schlackman, psychologist and employee of Ernest Dichter Larry Tye, journalist, Boston Globe Howard Hunt, Head of CIA Operation, Guatemala, 1954 Dr Heinz Lehmann, psychiatrist and colleague of Dr Ewen Cameron Laughlin Taylor, assistant to Dr Ewen Cameron 1958–60 Linda MacDonald, patient of Dr Ewen Cameron Dr John Gittinger, Chief Psychologist, CIA, 1950–74 Celeste Holm, actress and former patient of Dr Ralph Greenson Dr Leo Rangell, Los Angeles psychoanalyst Dr Alexander Lowen, experimental psychotherapist, 1950s Morton Herskowitz, student of Wilhelm Reich 1949–52 Lore Reich Rubin, Wilhelm Reich's daughter Robert Pardun, student activist, 1960s Herbert Marcuse (interviewed 1978) Stew Albert, founding member of Youth International Party Michael Murphy, founder of Esalen Institute George Leonard, leader, Encounter Group, Esalen Institute, 1960s Dr William Coulson, leader, Nuns' Encounter Group Daniel Yankelovich, Yankelovich Partners Market Research Inc. Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminars Training Jesse Kornbluth, journalist, New Times, 1970s Jerry Rubin, founder of Youth International Party (interviewed 1978) Jay Ogilvy, Director of Psychological Values Research, SRI International, 1979–88 Amina Marie Spengler, Director, Psychological Values Research Programme, 1978–86 Jeffrey Bell, speech-writer to Ronald Reagan, 1976–81 Christine MacNulty, program manager, Values and Lifestyles Team, SRI International 1978–81 Robert Reich, economist and member of Clinton cabinet 1993–97 Matthew Wright, tabloid journalist 1993–2000 Mario Cuomo, Governor, New York 1982–95 (archive) Philip Gould, Strategy Advisor for New Labour election campaign 1997 Dick Morris, Strategy Advisor to President Clinton 1994–96 Mark Penn, Market Researcher for President Clinton 1995–2000 Douglas Schoen, Market Researcher for President Clinton 1995–2000 James Bennet, Washington correspondent, The New York Times Derek Draper, assistant to Peter Mandelson 1992–95

A 2005 BBC & Discovery Channel History Documentary presented by David Wilson. Criminologist David Wilson conducts an investigation into the death of Russia's first dictator, who ruled the country during the 16th century. Beginning with rumours that Ivan was strangled by enemies close to him, the historical murder mystery then takes Wilson across Russia and on to the court of Oueen Elizabeth I.

A 2000 Documentary Film directed by Bernard Guerrini. Audio narration in English. Similar to Europe's knights, the samurai were a warrior class made up of members of the nobility. Each one swore lifelong loyalty to his lord and, like knights, was dedicated to rigorous discipline in perfecting his skill at the martial arts. The samurai particularly developed swordsmanship, equestrian skills, and the art of psychological mastery over their opponents. Today in Japan, interest in the code of the samurai and their skills continues to thrive, as evidenced by the numbers of people who participate in classes, games, and tournaments involving martial arts. Descendants of the original sword makers still forge samurai swords, or katana, as their ancestors did, using secret processes passed on from one generation to the next. Members of the original warrior families still don intricate armor, mount their steeds, and "joust" in the manner of their forebears at events that draw large audiences. Such things as the tea ceremony, calligraphy, and flower arranging, which require great discipline, profound knowledge, and total concentration, began in the days of the samurai and are closely identified with their culture. All are still highly respected and lovingly practiced by modern Japanese and, in fact, are hallmarks of Japanese culture. Since the 19th century, the martial arts practiced by the samurai have been used to develop the values of honor, truth, and virtue as well as strength and discipline among the Japanese. Mr. Guerrini likens Japanese nostalgia for the samurai to American nostalgia for the Wild West. In playing "Kendo," a sword-game played with sticks, people of all ages capture the thrilling sense of strategy and control in conflict like the samurai, perhaps, in somewhat the same way that modern day rodeos evoke the disciplines of riding, roping, and mastery over dangerous animals originated by the American cowboys. Modern samurai events exhibit the kinds of pageantry westerners associate with knightly tournaments-colorful costumes, flags, and parades, along with exciting tests of skill and strength. All of this is portrayed here with beautiful camerawork and seamless editing. Scenes from films such as The Seven Samurai, which recreate the original warriors and their battles, and interviews with several eminent Japanese historians and artisans, round out a presentation that is bound to please its audience as well as instruct them.

Un programma Rai Storia del 2022, conduce Cristoforo Gorno. Sono le prime ore del 9 gennaio del 49 a.C. Giulio Cesare, con cinque coorti attraversa il Rubicone, il fiume che segna il confine tra la Gallia Cisalpina e il territorio di Roma, un assalto al mondo, come lo definisce lo storico Tito Livio. Ha inizio così la guerra civile tra Cesare e i conservatori del Senato, primo fra tutti Pompeo, una guerra che, allargandosi da Occidente a Oriente, assumerà i contorni di un vero e proprio conflitto globale del mondo antico mediterraneo.

A 1969 Documentary Film by Marcel Ophuls. Audio in French and German, with English subtitles. Divided into two parts - The Collapse and The Choice - the film examines the responses of the French people to German occupation and their reasons for tending toward resistance or collaboration, focusing on the Auvergne region and the city of Clermont-Ferrand. Events are presented in roughly chronological order, with interviewees appearing throughout both parts of the film. Initially commissioned by France TV to create a two part made for TV documentary, the film was banned after Ophuls submitted it to the studio that hired him. The film was first shown on French television only in 1981. Director Marcel Ophuls combined interviews and archival film footage to explore the reality of the French occupation in one small industrial city, Clermont-Ferrand. He spoke with Resistance fighters, collaborators, spies, farmers, government officials, writers, artists and veterans. The result is a a shattering portrait of how ordinary people actually conducted themselves under extraordinary circumstances. Featuring: Pierre Mendès-France, Sir Anthony Eden, Dr. Claude Levy, Denis Rake, Alexis and Louis Grave, Christian de la Mazière, Maurice Chevalier and many more. The title comes from a comment by interviewee Marcel Verdier, a pharmacist in Montferrat, Isère, who says "the two emotions I experienced the most [during the Nazi occupation] were sorrow and pity". Maurice Chevalier's "Sweepin' the Clouds Away" is used repeatedly during the film. Chevalier was a popular entertainer with the German occupation force and was accused of collaboration even while he claimed to have offered support to the resistance, mirroring the complexities of French reactions to occupation highlighted in the film. Totally unavailable for 15 years, this new version features complete subtitles for the first time ever. The first DVD release of the film in France came in November 2011. The film has been both praised and condemned in France. The film has also been criticized for being too selective and that the director was "too close to the events portrayed to provide an objective study of the period." https://www.jstor.org/stable/25088330 https://www.commentary.org/articles/stanley-hoffmann-2/on-the-sorrow-and-the-pity/ Part 1: Focuses on the period after the fall of France in 1940 and the activities of the collaborationist Petain regime. Includes an extended interview with Pierre Mendès-France, who was jailed by the Vichy government on charges of desertion, but escaped from jail to join Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces in England. He later served as Prime Minister of post-war France.

Part 2: Experiences and reminiscence of active particpants in the Maquis. Extended interview with Christian de la Mazière, who provides a counterpoint to Mendès-France. Whereas Mendès-France was a French Jewish political figure who joined the Resistance, de la Mazière, an aristocrat who embraced Fascism, was one of 7,000 French volunteers who fought with the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front.