J’accuse! (1919)

J’accuse! is a French war film first released in 1919, directed by Abel Gance.  The film stars Romuald Joubé, Séverin-Mars, Maryse Dauvray, Maxime Desjardins and Angèle Guys.  It has also been released under the title: I Accuse.  Our overall rating for this film is: excellent.


Two men, Jean Diaz and François Laurin, meet in the trenches during World War I.  Although Diaz is having an affair with Laurin’s wife, they reconcile their differences.  Laurin asks Diaz, in the event of his death, for him to take care of his wife.  Only one of the two men survives the war…

Abel Gance’s powerful anti-war film still has the power to move and shock.  Through the intimate microcosm of two soldiers united on the battlefield, Gance shows the horror and absurdity of war for all its worth.  The question he poses is: if two rivals in love can settle their differences in peace, why cannot political leaders?

The film is all the more impressive for Gance’s uses of location filming on the World War I battlefields of France, during the latter stages of the war.  The film’s final scene where dead soldiers rise from their graves and see the better world they have created is sublimely moving.

© James Travers 2000

Write a review for this film...


What do you think of this film?

More French Drama
More French War
Recent DVD releases