The French Democracy

"The French Democracy," released mere weeks after the release of Lionhead's "The Movies," gives evidence for the potential of game movies as commentaries on current events. Inspired by the recent riots in the Parisian suburbs, this movie tells several stories about the victimization of French minority groups through harassment, job discrimination, and daily events and depicts circumstancs that make them feel like second-class citizens. Implicitly, this movie attempts to explain the tensions and emotions that fueled the riots. It also hits a note of deeply-felt sorrow for the loss of historical French ideals such as liberty and fraternity. The English subtitles, obviously written by a non-native writer, lend surprising authenticity and immediacy to the movie. -- HEL

"Though 'The French Democracy' is a rough bit of work that might not win over many film critics, some folks are hailing it as a milestone for being the first politically motivated film in this newish and mostly obscure medium, called 'machinima' by its fans. Hugh Hancock, who runs a Web site called Machinima.com, rated the piece as 'a fantastic step forward.'" -- Mike Musgrove, Washington Post (1 Dec. 2005).

"This is an original French movie about the recent French riots in the suburbs, it is also fully subtitled in English. A powerful film and very educational!" -- Planet The Movies (25 Nov. 2005)

"This is a movie about the recent French riots in suburb. It is fully subtitled in english(sorry for my english, i had some training to do). I hope you will enjoy this movies and have a better understand of what is happening in my country!" -- Koulamata, The Movies website (22 Nov. 2005)
Credits
TITLE: The French Democracy
CREATOR: Koulamata (Alex Chan)
GAME: The Movies
GAME DEVELOPER: Lionhead Studios
GAME PUBLISHER: Activision
GAME ENGINE/MACHINIMA TOOL: The Movies
RUNNING TIME: 13:09
DATE: Nov. 2005