

Peter Watkins' nearly six-hour masterwork, La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000), which was originally made for French television but was never shown, is now available on DVD in the U.S. thanks to First Run Features. Utilizing more than 200 mostly non-professtional actors on a minimalist Brechtian set (yes, a little like Dogville), Watkins re-creates the events of 1871, when a revolutionary government was formed by the Parisians after Napolean III's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The film is a powerful examination of how history was (and is) interpreted by those in power.

I was fortunate enough to see La Commune (Paris, 1871) when it was released theatrically in the U.S. in 2003 by First Run/Icarus films. I also bought the subtitled French DVD of the film as soon as it became available. The 3 DVD-set being released by FRF includes Geoff Bowie's doc The Universal Clock: The Resistance of Peter Watkins.