Un pays qui se tent saga (2020)

Directed by: David Dufresne | 86 minutes | documentary

Talk, talk, talk, the French are good at it. But as much as is discussed in ‘Un pays qui se tient sage’ is exceptional; exhausting even – even if it concerns important issues such as the right to protest and increasing police brutality in Emmanuel Macron’s dynamic France.

It is almost impossible to question the motives of the makers; this is a fine example of action journalism. A filmmaker who asks questions can achieve more, because action journalism only attracts people who already agree with the story, and then in our view a film like this doesn’t need to be made.

This indicates how much western societies have been polarized in recent years. Dialogue is desirable, emotions take over. Yellow vests, Covid protests, you name it: positions have hardened. How come? Growing social inequality and distrust in politics. Then don’t just let people speak who already distrust those in power.

Admittedly, police officers also have their say in ‘Un pays qui se tient sage’; however, the silent majority is the great absentee in this documentary, which is dominated by agitated, intellectualized conversations and images of demonstrations with intimidating police brutality. Isn’t that possible? Yes, in the Netherlands, but here too people mainly live in bubbles.

Filmmaker Dufresne shows himself technically skilled. The challenge lies in filming violence, for which admiration is given. Dufresne makes clever use of smartphone images; noble is his aim to show that the French government is restricting civil rights, such as the right to film police officers. We can consider ourselves fortunate that films like this can be made, but the film itself is regularly repeated.