Revolution

Author: Adrian James

Location: Nashville

"Revolution"

CREW:

Directed by: Olivier Dahan

Written by: Robert Rodat

Produced by: Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks

Adapted loosely from the Hilary Mantel novel "A Place of Greater Safety"

Original Score by: John Williams

CAST:

Christian Bale - Maxmillien Robespierre

Eric Bana - Georges Danton

Michael Sheen - King Louis XVI

Sean Bean - Camille Desmoulins

Kate Winslet - Marie Antoinette

Mathieu Almaric - Napolean Bonaparte

Jeremy Irons - Jean-Paul Marat

Kate Beckinsale - Charlotte Corday

TAGLINE: Liberty. Equality. Fraternity.

SYNOPSIS:

Its a hot July day, when revolutionary minds in Philadelphia sign a declaration of their independence from Great Britian, their mother country. A war will begin this day. A war that will be remembered as one of the most influential wars in history. A war, that will cost England a great deal. And King Louis XVI of France will jump into the tangle. This will cost France millions of the taxpayers dollars, forcing their country into poverty, starvation, and a revolution of their own......

Maxmillien Robespierre sits in the park, waiting for his friend, Georges Danton, to arrive. He looks round at his fellow man, and sees the decrepid nature of them. How they beg for food at the feet of the wealthy. How a once honorable nation has turned into a breeding ground for the homeless. A child sits, lying in a filthy alleyway, freezing to death. Something must be done. And that is why he is taking action.

Charlotte Corday walks into the underground pub hall where many people from her neighborhood are gathered. The room smells of beer and sweat and anger. There is a man, speaking wildly to the crowd from atop the table. Speaking of oppression by the monarchy. The waste of taxpayers dollars on the American war. And then he speaks of the resistance. Of the chance to unite, and stand up against Louis XVI. On the next night, they would march.....

JULY 14th

It's quiet. The sun has been down for a while now, and the guards outside of the Bastille prison are just getting settled into their shift. An ominous glow fills the horizon across the streets of Paris. Slowly but surely, a crowd emerges with pitchforks, torches, and clubs. The guards are defenseless against the 20,000 Parisians who begin to tear the prison apart, brick by brick. The symbol of their opression was now in rubble, and they put the heads of the soldiers on pikes, and marched out of the city.

King Louis and his wife, Marie Antoinette lounge in their Versailles palace as the sun rises. They look over the marshes of their country, and see a crowd of peasants moving toward the castle. Soon, it seems to be more than just a crowd. Robespierre and Georges Danton lead the people on a pillage throughout the castle. Burning books, breaking silverware, and smashing windows. They reach the King and Queen, and "escort" them into the courthouse of Paris. There, King Louis XVI is sentenced to death.

1 YEAR LATER

The people of France have been in a constant state of terror ever since Robespierre, their enthusiastic Minister, Georges Danton, the sidekick of Robespierre, and Jean-Paul Marat, the writer of the propaganda fueled newspaper began executing anyone who dared speak ill of their new Empire. Power hungry and paranoid, Robespierre begins to suspect the men around him of being the enemy. Of a plot to kill him. He sends to gaurds over to visit the two traitors. Georges Danton, Robespierre's best friend and partner, and Casmilles Desmoulins, the third of the original trio are now sentenced to death.

Marie Antoinette sits in her cell. She has seen the ruin of her country at the hands of these "revolutionaries" and weeps. She is soon to be sentenced to death, at the hands of the Guillotine. She looks out her window, as the crowd gathers to witness the execution of Georges Danton. Before the blade comes down, Danton speaks. "My only regret is that I should meet death before that rat, Robespierre."

Charlotte Corday stands in the crowd as the blade falls, executing the man who lead her rebellion. It has all deteriorated into pain and anguish. She sees the man who replaced Danton, Jean-Paul Marat. He is the same man who publishes the names of the naysayers in his newspaper, and the same man who is responsible for the corruption of freedom. She goes over to his house, posing as an informant. There, while he lays in his bathtub, she stabs him, with a conceiled dagger. Robespierre is all that is left, and Charlotte is executed for her "crime".

Robespierre is alone. The people around him all day are unfamiliar. Danton is dead. Marat is dead. He has no one. Marie Antoinette was executed today, and still he feels anxious. As if they are all against him. Soon he begins his new plan, of prison camps for all Anti-Revolutionary Minds. Its then that the peopel uproar. Robespierre is overturned. He is imprisoned, and sentenced to death for crimes against the people of France. The revolution is over. Robespierre's general, the young and ambitious Napolean Bonaparte, takes command of France, and his new Empire.......

WHAT THE PRESS WOULD SAY:

Olivier Dahan, director of the 2007 Oscar Winner "La vie En Rose" brings us back to another time in France. A time when the people are poor, and the upper class resents them for it. In a bleak, grayish color scheme, Dahan paints us a portrait of desperation in these people, and the tension before the uprising comes out at us in such subtle force, its hard not to be astonished.

Christian Bale commands the screen in his performance as leader of the revolution, Maxmillien Robespierre. His ambitious, and thought provoking speeches were he actually reaches out to the people, and inspires them truly are marvelous. But he really shows his character change as the film progresses, becoming the paranoid, power hungry emperor of France. Betraying his friends, destroying his enemies, and weeping for himself, Bale delivers an astounding performance that Oscar should take notice of.

Kate Winslet is absolutely heartbreaking as the once selfish queen, who ages away her beauty and power in a prison cell. The voice of reason comes out in the words she speaks to her guards. Her character's transformation from the beginning of the film, to her tear inducing execution, is only something someone as talented as Winslet could pull off, and pull it off she does. Truly a performance to be remembered for the ages.

The supporting players are truly incredible, and each plays an important role. Eric Bana has the meatiest supporting male role, as the longtime best friend, and eventual tragic character Georges Danton. He is the voice of reason inside Robespierre's head, the angel on his shoulder if you will. And Jeremy Irons' Jean Paul Marat is the devil on the other. Both competing for the soul of Robepierre, and this time good cannot overcome evil. Bana weeping at the feet of Bale before his execution is a scene in which some audience members will never forget, myself included.

Lastly, scene stealer Kate Beckinsale surprises everyone with her commanding, boiling-under-the-surface poor farm wife. She is the eyes in which we see the revolution, all of its flaws, all of its feats. She is the normal, working class person who witnesses all of this, and eventually has a hand in its downfall. A truly shocking scene in which she stabs Irons in a bathrub really made Beckinsale stand out, her understated aggression for a woman oppressed in a time when that was the norm. Look for this performance to be noticed come Oscar season.

Working off a script from "Saving Private Ryan" scribe Robert Rodat, and using the natural English accents of the cast, Dahan creates a visual nightmare, and a portrait of the sins of our past. Produced by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks, this film is not to be missed.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:

Best Motion Picture - Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg

Best Director - Olivier Dahan

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Christian Bale

Best Actress in a Leading Role - Kate Winslet

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Eric Bana

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Jeremy Irons

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Kate Beckinsale

Best Adapted Screenplay - Robert Rodat

Best Original Score - John Williams