Le Pantalon (1997)

 

            “Le Pantalon” (The Pants) is a French TV movie directed and co-written by  Yves Boisset.  Boisset had a long career making TV movies.  The movie is set in WWI and reflects the modern French cynicism about the war.  In some ways, it is the French equivalent to “Paths of Glory”.

            A long panning shot introduces us to a realistic no man’s land.  There are plenty of corpses, including one that has rats crawling all over it.  French soldiers are waiting to go over the top as a priest walks through the trench praying for them.  They’ll need it.  The attack is similar to the famous one in “Paths of Glory”.  They  get about thirty yards before they are driven back.  Meanwhile, in the chateau, the general is watching a fashion show!  Lions conduit par un âne.  One of the fashions is a blue uniform with a French style helmet.  General:  “How long will the helmets take?”  “Two months”  “How naïve, I’ll have beaten the Boches by then.”  No one laughs.  Except in the theater.  So, we’ve established that this must be before the mutinies of 1917.  In fact, it is February of 1915.  When the war still had such a bloom on it.

            Lucien Bersot (Wadeck Stanczak) is a blacksmith’s son.  He gets called up, but not to worry because the war will be over soon.  He is given white pants when all the other poilu have red ones.  (Note:  this is the last war where generals didn’t give a damn about camouflage.)  His first action is attacking Hill 165 (think Ant Hill).  The hill has no value but the generals think assaulting it will cause the Germans to weaken another sector.  The result of the attacks (there are two) make you wonder why it takes two more years for the men to mutiny.  They are already fatalistic, but not fed up yet.  A lieutenant is assigned to Bersot’s company and told strict discipline equals promotion.  And the colonel is looking for an example to be made so there’s no more quick retreating when faced by a storm of steel.  Bersot becomes the example when he refuses to wear a pair of white pants that have the blood of their former owner.  He’s charged with “disobeying in the face of the enemy”.  If you have seen “Paths of Glory”, you know where this is heading.

            “Le Pantalon” is a worthy addition to the group of war movies whose main goal is to present an anti-war message.  While most war movies, if they are realistic and not a comedy or adventure, are anti-war, they seldom were written with that as the main point.  You could look at it as a reminder to French audiences of how fracked up WWI was.  Maybe they needed a reminder since an entire generation was not familiar with “Paths of Glory”.  (I say one generation because POG was not shown in France until 1975.)  This film covers similar ground and themes.  The soldiers are assigned an impossible task by clueless, heartless generals.  The officers in general are unsympathetic toward their men’s hardships and most feel harsh discipline is the key to dealing with poor morale.  A soldier or soldiers are made an example of in a show trial that is tilted towards guilt.  There is a unambitious officer who is willing to defend them in the name of justice, but he is fighting the system.

            With that said, “Le Pantalon” is predictable, but powerful.  The acting stands out. Stanczak is good as the principled Bersot.  Philippe Volter is fine as his Dax-like lawyer Guérin.  Hiss-worthy performances are turned in by Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu and Jean-Paul Comart as the loathsome officers who railroad Bersot.  Like POG, it sets up the courtroom drama with some good battle scenes.  No man’s land and the trenches are well-rendered.  The combat does not explain why the soldiers mutiny.  You need to watch POG for that.  The background scenes here explain why they are fatalistic. For all the apparent cribbing, “Le Pantalon” does introduce some intercutting with Bersot’s family back home.  This makes it more of a tear jerker than POG was.  And all because of a putain de pantalon.

GRADE  =  B