''The Eye of Vichy'' (french: "L'Œil de Vichy") is a 1993 French documentary film directed by Claude Chabrol. It consists of a selection in chronological order of authentic footage, mostly newsreels and documentaries, shown on cinema screens in France between 1940 and 1944. Intertitles or a narrator occasionally add linking or supplementary information. The bulk of the material was produced under the

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

régime and the aim of the film is to show the worldview which the collaborationist government of Pétain promoted to its population.

Themes

The main messages conveyed by this Vichy propaganda were: *That the elderly Pétain was a father to his people, incarnating the true France and heading its legitimate government. The unnamed

de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

was therefore a traitor and his pretensions to lead an alternative government false. *That the destiny of France lay in co-operation with the German occupiers to build a new Europe which excluded Britain and the USA to the west and the USSR to the east. *That collaboration with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

included supplying workers of both sexes to its factories and sending soldiers to fight communism on the Eastern Front. *That the

German armed forces The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

were France's protectors against the Western

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, who only brought destruction by bombing and invasion. Coverage of Anglo-American attacks emphasised the civilians killed and dwellings demolished. *That after resounding victories at El Alamein and Stalingrad, the invincible German forces made strategic withdrawals from North Africa and Russia. *That those who actively resisted the security forces of Vichy and the German occupiers were terrorists to be exterminated and that for every German killed innocent hostages would be shot. *That

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

were aliens and enemies, to be rounded up and deported. Their grim fate once transported east was not explained.

Critical reception

From

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'': From ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'':

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eye of Vichy 1993 films 1993 documentary films Documentary films about the Holocaust Films directed by Claude Chabrol Documentary films about Vichy France French documentary films Documentary films about films Films about propaganda 1990s French films

Themes

Critical reception

See also

References

External links