De Gaulle: Tilting Iron is the first entry in director Antonin Baudry's two-part epic on Charles de Gaulle, a general and statesman who became the face of French resistance.
It's big, maximalist, and old-fashioned by way of classic war pictures. Working with a substantial budget, Baudry goes all out with the tanks, weapons, large crowds, and sweeping aerial shots that are reminiscent of the go-getter attitude of Christopher Nolan in his films.
Tilting Iron opens in June 1940 as France collapses and signs the armistice with Germany. Alone against the prevailing mood of surrender, an obscure general named Charles de Gaulle (Simon Abkarian) refuses to accept defeat and flees to London, determined to keep the idea of a free France alive. Without an army, without official backing and without much hope, he begins assembling his forces from scratch.
Simon Abkarian anchors the film well. He plays de Gaulle less as a psychologically complex figure than as an almost mythic presence.
Where the film wobbles is in its refusal to commit to one mode. It wants to be war epic, political drama and origin story all at once, and the Fernand subplot, while a reasonable idea on paper, ends up feeling underdeveloped next to the de Gaulle material. Structurally, this is clearly one half of a larger story, and it shows.
Still, as an old-school historical spectacle, Tilting Iron mostly delivers. It is loud, handsome and confident in its own ambitions. If they keep this momentum for the second part, I'm all for it.
“De Gaulle
- Tilting Iron” is now showing in New Zealand cinemas.
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