J'Accuse

Intercutting newreel footage and basing his intertitles on letters from the trenches, Abel Gance's silent drama brought home to audiences, who scarcely needed reminding, the imperative to prevent the recurrence of such barbarity. The rape and pregnancy of Marise Dauvray and the fury of her enlisted husband, Severin-Mars, were powerfully depicted. But nothing compares to the finale sequence, in which deranged poet Romuald Joubé summons the dead from their graves to reinforce the futility of war. Originally shown in three feature-length chapters, the film was reduced to around 150 minutes by the director, and the discarded footage was destroyed.