La vie est à nous (1936)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Jacques Becker
Jacques B. Brunius

Writers:

Jacques Becker (writer)
Jacques B. Brunius (writer)

Release Date:

5 December 1937 (USA)

Genre:

News

Plot:

A propaganda film of the communist party of France, showing who the comrades help the proletarian people against the capitalists...

Plot Keywords:

Propaganda

Cast

Jean Dasté	...	L'instituteur / Teacher
Jacques B. Brunius	...	Le président du conseil d'administration
Simone Guisin	...	Une dame au Casino
Teddy Michaud	...	Un fasciste à l'entraînement
Pierre Unik	...	Le secrétaire de Marcel Cachin
Charles Blavette	...	Tonin (as Blavette)
Gaston Clamamus
Max Dalban	...	Brochard 'le chrono'
Madeleine Sologne	...	Une ouvrière de l'usine
Émile Drain	...	Le vieux Bertin / Worker
Roger Blin	...	Un métallo
Jean Renoir	...	Le patron du bistrot
Georges Spanelly	...	Le directeur de l'usine
Sylvain Itkine	...	Le comptable
Eddy Debray	...	L'huissier

Also Known As:

Life Is Ours (International: English title) (informal literal title)
The People of France

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Marlotte, Porte de Montreuil, Paris 20, Paris, France

Company:

Collective Films

Trivia:

'Aragón, Louis' was asked by officials of the "Parti Communiste Francais" whom he would recommend as a director for this propaganda film and he proposed Jean Renoir who then directed the film as head of a director's collective.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fermeture de l'usine Renault à Vilvoorde (1998)

Soundtrack:

L'Internationale

So comrades,come rally/And the last fight let us face...

Many directors worked on this film ,the most famous is Jean Renoir -who was not part of the Communist Party but whose name was put forward by poet Louis Aragon- ,but there is also Jacques Becker and one of the Nouvelle Vague's numerous betes noires,Jean-Paul Le Chanois.It is very difficult to tell who did what.I will not try.The movie was not really theatrically released before 1969 (the year after May 68).

"La vie est à nous" predates Godard's "Cinema Verité" ("la Chinoise" "Tout va Bien" etc)by thirty years but do not panic.It is not as stodgy as JLG's lectures.

Of course it's basically a propaganda movie and it might interest only people who are fans of the directors I mention(and completists at that).It is made of sketches ,telling stories of everyday life: a school teacher tells his pupils about their country's national wealth,but he sadly concludes:"you'll never take advantage of them " Blame it on the 200 families who possess all the money.A photo album shows some of them,notably the Schneider family,whose patriarch Eugene was an industrialist and politician of the nineteenth century (he owned his own factory when he was about 30,thanks essentially to his wife's dowry) Then there are several tales of misfortune:

-A working man is fired.

-Another one is on the dole although he is an educated man.

-A farm is put up for auction.(this segment will remind fans of of "little house (in the prairie)" one of its episodes!!

And every time,the commies come to the rescue! The film ends with speeches by the then big names in the party .It's rather boring.

For historians and sociologists.