Movie Review: BBC's "Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution" Television Movie

This BBC special, made for television movie is both entertaining and quite informative. It is done in a strange mixture of acting and documentary that actually works quite well in this case. You have noted authors and thinkers who argue both against and in defense of the French revolutionaries who orchestrated the most morbidly fascinating chapter of the Revolution, generally known as "The Reign of Terror" or even simply as "The Terror."

As the name implies, this project does not examine the entirety of the French Revolution. You will not see depictions or descriptions of the fall of the Bastille, the Oath of the Tennis Court, the Women's March to Versailles, or even the beheading of King Louis XVI or Marie Antoinette. Somewhat surprisingly, they hardly even mention Danton, who in other movies and books, figures quite prominently in this chapter of history, and rightly so. Here in this movie, it is clear that Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety views Danton, and to a lesser extent, Camille Desmoulins, as a threat, but Desmoulins gets much more attention here than Danton, who again, feels almost conspicuous by his near absence. 

Two men who do figure large in this particular movie are Saint Just and, not surprisingly, Maximilien Robespierre, who is named in the title, of course. Robespierre played a leading role in the Revolution leading up to, and of course during, the period known as the "Reign of Terror." 

With this movie/documentary, we get a bit of a feel for what it would have been like inside of the Directory, in a way that more conventional movies and television depictions probably cannot. Certainly, I have never seen a movie version that made me understand their way of thinking quite as much as this particular movie, done partially in documentary style, managed to do. You can at least understand why they did some of the things that they did, if not perhaps quite sympathize, knowing what it led up to. This was, after all, supposed to be the beginning of a new age, when science and reason trumped old superstitions, and when the antiquated old, feudal order of a monarchy that claimed divine right to absolute rule gave way to a new order, where the people no longer looked up to a monarchy, but looked out for it's own interests.

This was well done, and should be regarded essential viewing for anyone looking to study the French Revolution's chapter known as "The Terror." I had learned, both in college classes and textbooks, as well as in subsequent movies and such, what some of the ideas were during the French Revolution, and why they came to be enacted. Again, though, this movie makes it feel like it comes to life more than any other movie that I have seen before. It really was quite fantastic.

Highly recommended!