We discuss two new films in this week’s episode. ‘The Goldman Case’ dramatises the 1976 trial of revolutionary left-wing intellectual Pierre Goldman and is a thrilling retelling of a momentous event in French legal history. Plus: we speak to the directors behind the new documentary ‘Sugarcane’, which follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Monocle on Culture.
I'm Robert Bound.
How do you grapple with the questions, moments or events which tell a bigger story about a nation and its past on the big screen?
This is a complicated task and on today's show we're looking at two very different films from very different places that try to do just this in their own way.
The Goldman case dramatises the 1975 trial of revolutionary left wing firebrand Pierre Goldman.
The film, directed by Cedric Kahn and starring Arie Wolthalter, is a thrilling retelling of a momentous event in French legal history.
We'll catch up with the culture writer Tobias Gray for his take on proceedings then.
Sugarcane is a new documentary film which follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system.
It's a moving portrait of a brutal story and a brutal system which the country continues to reckon with.
We'll hear from directors Julian Brave, Noisecat and Emily Cassie.
Do stay tuned.
That's all coming up here on Monocle On Culture.
First we're going to look at the Goldman case, currently on release and focus on the 1975 trial of Pierre Goldman, the street fighter and ball of revolutionary energy.
The film particularly looks at Goldman's accusation that the French establishment was stacking the odds against him due not only to his fiery reputation, but also because of his Jewishness.
Critics have associated it with the Dreyfus affair and the tone and content of OJ Simpson's defence that the police were racist.
Monocle contributor Tobias Gray interviewed the director Cedric Kahn recently and was on hand to give us his take on how the Goldman case is perhaps a critique of France itself.
Tobias, lovely to have you on the program today and a fascinating topic, the man and the Movie, the Goldman Case.
I wonder if you could first of of all give our listeners a little bit of context on Goldman.
What kind of a public character was he in France?
What did he mean?