Danton – Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda’s Danton (1983) begins with the titular character, Georges Danton (Gerard Depardieu), one of the most prominent leaders and instigators of the French Revolution, entering Paris during a downpour. His horse-drawn carriage passes a roadblock where indiscriminate searches are being imposed and the unmistakable and towering figure of the guillotine—a montage switches from its gleaming blade and to Danton’s curious glance—patiently waiting for another hapless victim. The Reign of Terror that followed the overthrow of the French monarchy is in full bloom, but with the economy stagnating—the queue for a bread rationing nearing chaos—their brewing discontent hushed while the lingering fear from the ruling Jacobins hover menacingly, and the daily bloodshed is starting to get into the nerves of an exhausted society. Unknowingly and ironically, Danton and a few of his cohorts will be marching the same steps to face their eventual end.

History tells us of Danton’s falling out with his friend and fellow compatriot, Maximillien Robespierre (played in the film by Wojciech Pszoniak), his subsequent execution and the ultimate culmination of the Reign after the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794. The film is based on Stanislawa Przybyszewska’s 1920 play The Danton Case, the feud manifesting from Danton’s shift to moderate policies while Robespierre attempting to keep the dictatorial power of the Committee as the only method to protect the supposed ideals of the Revolution. As a man-of-the-people, Danton is seen by Robespierre as a threat—despite being indulgent and often clumsy— directly contrary to the latter’s laconic and domineering, not to mention, paranoid, status as a political figure holding a small assembly apprehensive of losing their grip on the Revolutionary Convention. Caught in the tumult is Camille Desmoulins (Patrice Chereau), a journalist/propagandist and friend to both Danton and Robespierre, who takes former’s side, however fearing the tragic ramifications of what they had done. His wife Lucille writes, “a free press is the greatest terror to ambitious despots”, which still rings true today, noticeably as the flames of authoritarianism engulfs a world blindsided by populist autocrats who abhor the freedom of the press as much as the next opposition politician. Lucille, for her part in what Robespierre believes as a conspiracy to usurp power and undermine the incumbent principles of their original cause, would follow Camille to the guillotine a week later.

Wajda, whose War Trilogy (A Generation, Kanal, Ashes and Diamond) captivated the Polish cinema with his depiction of the German occupation, deftly crafts the film as a response to the political upheaval of his native Poland with the “Solidarity” movement losing momentum against the Iron Curtain and under a martial law. Using the French Revolution as an inspiration, he jabs at the ruling class in promoting the desire of the people for an eventual change in governance and while pitting a disillusioned former official (in the face of union leader Lech Walesa who started the movement) against an autocrat (coup leader Gen Wojciech Jaruzelski). Jean-Claude Carriere who wrote the screenplay of the film, in an interview, attests that “cinema is the only way we have to rebuild and re-write history […] and Danton is a film that is saying a lot about the 80s in Europe”.

It is interesting to note that Pryzbyszewska put Danton in a negative light while being partial to Robespierre, and Wajda quashes that impression, exonerating such an enigmatic figure with Depardieu’s rather sympathetic portrayal. Moreover, one’s interpretation of Danton is much as Wajda’s perspective on the French Revolution—its similarity to the Bolshevik Revolution that brought Communism to the Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe—yet also to the promotion of human rights, the same freedoms and liberties that the French fought for when they stormed the Bastille, and perhaps ironically, as an indictment to the deprivation of the said rights to a society living under an iron fist. Likewise, Danton can be a cautionary tale for democratic governments and society, the relevance exclaiming its undeniable presence, as one of the citizens somnolently declares before being cut off by a passing sans-cullotte guard: “Power corrupts.”

In retrospect, Danton portrays the aftermath of a successful populist uprising, of how subsequent transitions rattle those who took power, creating broad divisions that demarcate the imposed standards. Furthermore, in doing so, blur the lines of what is morally acceptable and what is insidiously prevalent. The struggle for control often culminates in an absolute disregard of the same ideologies being preserved, leading to a willful destruction of the very foundation from where it all started. The film reverberates with a kind of preconception ahead of its time, or possibly, as a subtle warning to the drawbacks of a politically motivated revolution.