Documentaries Page 5
We start November with a subject which is far from fragrant... Arte Television loves to shock the bourgeoisie by taking subjects that are taboo and treating them carefully and thoroughly, often with humour. So it was with a programme entitled La fabuleuse histoire des excréments. We are treated to a vocabulary lesson at bthe beginning, and then an expert on purification plants explains that 50% of your water bill is spent on the expensive treatment that we accord what is flushed down the toilet ... grosso modo, or as he puts it, grosso merdo. Good programme.
Toute l'histoire is a very minor channel which occasionally offers an interesting programme on French history. Such was the sad story of Joseph and Henriette Caillaux. We are coming up to the First World War, Joseph Caillaux is a rising star in French politics, likely to become Président du Conseil (premier ministre). He is also an ardent pacifist, very much against war with Germany. For the newspapers, such as the Figaro he becomes l'homme à abattre. The media, as we say today, pursue him relentlessly... as they do today. Under the intense pressure his wife, Henriette, buys herself a little gun and shoots the editor of the Figaro dead.
France 5 screened a programme about eating insects. Because this is, in our societies, still an odd thing to do, the first few minutes showed English people doing it. But that's normal on French TV. The programme then went on to show a French entrepreneur making an insect dinner for a couple of his friends who do their best to show their appreciation.
Friday evenings, France 3 screens Thalassa, le magazine de la mer. It was from the Brittany port of Saint-Brieuc, where lives a French friend of mine with whom I speak regularly on Skype - so I was particularly interested. They did a little piece on a girl pop singer from the region whose name is Julie Budet, and whose father, François Budet is the composer of the song Loguivy de la mer. The song absolutely blew me away. It speaks to those of us who were born near the North sea and know the little coast towns where all that is left of the fishing trade is the cobles turned upside down on the jetties to make cabins for the local fishermen. Here you have the song off Youtube and a bit of the interview with Julie Budet. Not an easy voice to follow, but you will like the song
I always enjoy receiving videos from users of this site - it gets me out of the rut of ordinary television. So I am very grateful for Paris 1900, a black and white documentary which was shot in 1946. The voice-over is fascinating. It's of it's period, similar to the way movie announcers spoke in Britain and in America in the '30s and '40s. However, the sound quality makes this a fairly difficult listening exercise. A lot of the time it is clear, then there a re a few words which one just has to guess. Good fun though.
A vos ordres, Monsieur le Président was a nicely done documentary from France 5 about the often difficult relationship between the French army and the President. In some countries, it is the army that rules, and it is often a political force. De Gaulle was brought to power by the army in Algeria, but was very aware that the army must be brought under political control. This clip starts with the story of the French atom bomb
In the anglo-saxon world we have shops that we used to call pawnbrokers, and which now bear flashy signs that say 'Cash Generator'. In Paris, they have le Crédit Municipal, known as Le Mont-de-Piété, and yes, it's a nationalised money-lender. I am going to lay aside the temptation to discuss whether that's a good thing or not.. it made for an interesting documentary. Also a rather difficult listening exercise, since le Crédit Municipal is a rather noisy place.
Des racines et des ailes did a nice little piece on the Lalique factory situated in Alsace, who make glass of extraordinary quality. Here one of the experts of the firm passes some of his skills to the younger generation.
The pressures of modern life mean that we eat convenience foods and the French plats préparés. I found this little documentary from France 5 interesting and amusing - especially the bit where they take some chicken wings to an expert to see if there are any additives, and are told, well it's all false, because chicken wings like that don't exist in nature... they stick bits of chicken flesh onto little bones. And then the lady who force feeds chicken cordon bleu to kids to find out which variety is the least revolting..
Nothing could be further from the world of Miss France than the KTO, short for Catho, or Catholique, the channel for those who profess that faith. I flick through it from time to time, and chanced across a documentary called La Tenture de l'Apocalypse, which you can see in the museum next time you pass through Angers. The interest is evident : the thing is enormous, and of great historical interest. Linguistically interesting also, this clip finishes with a flurry of vocabulary relating to weaving : did you know that métier, which we use every day in its sense of 'job' .. is also the word for 'loom' ?
Le gang des Lyonnais was a highly professional, well-organised band of bank robbers, operating in France in the '70s. In this documentary, from Arte Télévision, they are spoken of with some respect. They did not kill, and their robberies were conceived with skill and indeed, genius. Rather different from our time, where for a few euros Marseille shop-keepers are murdered by youths carrying Kalashnikov rifles.
