Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Sindre Kaspersen German-born French-American documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophüls' documentary feature, made for television, which he co-wrote with French documentary filmmaker André Harris and which consists of two parts called "The Collapse" and "The Choice", premiered in West Germany, was shot on locations in France and Germany and is a France-Switzerland-West Germany co-production which was produced by André Harris and documentary filmmaker Alain de Sedouy. It tells the story about a commune in the Auvergne region in France nearby the country's former capital city Vichy called Clermont-Ferrand 24 years after the German occupation of France (1940-1944) during the Second World War, the people of Clermont-Ferrand who survived the occupation, their living conditions during World War II, their relations with German soldiers and British allies, their political views, their views on the persecution of Jews and relations with them and their experiences of living under the occupation of another country. Distinctly and finely directed by German-French-American filmmaker Marcel Ophüls, this finely tuned documentary which is narrated by the director and from multiple viewpoints, draws a comprehensive, intimate and informative portrayal of many French citizens' reactions to being confronted with direct, surprising, at times leading and interesting questions regarding their nation's history and their own involvement in it. Through interviews with, amongst others, a former German Whermacht captain, a former prime minister of France, a former prime minister of Great Britain, an attorney during WW II, a pharmacist, a former British spy, members of the former French Resistance, a former French actor and musician and citizens of Clermont-Ferrand, this narrative-driven and in-depth documentary which is notable for its timely black-and-white cinematography by cinematographers Andre Gazut and Jürgen Thieme, creates a dense and invigorating depiction of international collaboration and relations within a French society marred by war which through a humane, hierarchical, political and historic viewpoint reflects on human conduct in times of war. This sociological, conversational and at times humorous collection of war stories from the late 20th century which is set mostly in a city in France in the late 1960s and where the significant impact of war on a nation becomes tragically apparent, is impelled and reinforced by its fragmented narrative structure, efficient continuity, timely and comical use of music, use of archival and newsreel footage, interrelated stories, describing title "Le chagrin et la pitié", distinctive sense of irony, comment by a former member of La Résistance française regarding post-war Nazism : "A rose by another name is still a rose.", the extraordinary scene of an 18-year-old French girl who escaped from occupied France to London, England and Sir Anthony Eden's graceful words about passing judgment. A cinematic, conscientious and eternalized documentation of history which in its poignantly rational manner conveys some of the atrocious truth about the consequences of war and the irrevocable affect it has left on history and humanity.

Jackson Booth-Millard As with many films that feature in it, I probably would never have known about or seen this French film if it did not feature in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and that is the only reason I probably would watch it. Basically this documentary focuses on the German Nazi invasion of France during the Second World War, 1940 to 1944, due to the French Vichy government collaborating. Throughout the film director Marcel Ophüls interviews the politicians involved with the situation, the former resistance fighters, the former German Nazis who were involved, the religious types and other people affected by the invasion. The film is split into two parts, both two hours, "The Collapse" and "The Choice", including many stock footage moments made during the time, and it concludes with the important interview with France's Prime Minister. I will admit that I did not understand all of what was being talked about during the interviews, and I did doze off a little bit in certain parts that were a bit boring, but the stock footage stuff is interesting enough, and the opinions of what was happening was alright, so overall it is a worthwhile political documentary. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Documentary, Features for Ophüls, and it won the BAFTA for Best Foreign TV Programme. Very good!

Hrodland Well, I was hoping a lot from this documentary after having read some reviews here. The documentary worths the watch as some of the interviews are really interesting (former S.S De La Mazière, the English diplomats and the German soldiers, in particularly) and it also gives a good idea of the radical political divisions between the French at this time. However everyone should admit that the film is not strictly neutral. As a Frenchman, I have been interested in the subject for a little while and know quite a bit about this period. The interviews of Resistance members are unfortunately much more numerous than those of collaborators and there is not a single interview of any former member of the Milice (which had more than 30,000 members!) while it seems to me it should have been unavoidable for such a documentary, since they were very involved in the war against partisans. The "jewish question" sequences last for too long and are not focused on Clermont-Ferrand while the black market (quite important at this time) is just slightly mentioned. There is nothing about the STO (compulsory work in Germany), although it drove quantity of young men to join the Resistance! Nor is mentioned the fact that communists have been collaborators before the war between Germany and USSR and that some have even volunteered to work in Germany. Tortures by members of the Milice (which have been numerous) are mentioned while tortures of collaborators and German soldiers by communist partisans (which have been numerous too) are not mentioned at all. Communism in France was, in 1969, too powerful for Ophuls to go onto this slippery slope, I guess... The documentary is about Clermont-Ferrand, however Ophuls sometimes jumps to how life was in Paris or Vichy at this time, it's a bit annoying because we don't get a really good picture of Clermont-Ferrand then. I have watched the French version with English subtitles and, although my English is far from being perfect, I found them rather below average, some meanings are twisted, it is a shame for people not knowing French language because they might understand a different version of the witnesses interviews. I think the documentary is interesting not from its purpose nor its editing but rather for the historical value of some of the interviews and also to get a general picture of the people feelings at this time, keeping in mind the film in itself is still an incomplete and slightly orientated summary of occupied France (however much more complete and less orientated than most of modern documentaries).

cameronteague I've only seen the first installment, but I can't stop thinking about two things in particular. Firstly, the haberdasher (and World War I veteran), of Clermont Ferrand who took out a newspaper ad to declare he was not Jewish after he was suspected of being so along with his three brothers. Secondly, the bourgeois chemist who was so scared of his child born in 1942 being malnourished, that he fed the blighter as much as he could and he was now (1969), the tallest of his siblings at 1m85cm. The history of ordinary people can very often be so much more vivid than the dry recantation of the big events we read in text books and see in other much more turgid documentaries. Definitely a must- see and I can certainly comprehend why it was not shown on French TV until years later in 1981.