Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution

Jul 11, 2009

★ 6.5

Overview

In 1794, French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre produced the world's first defense of "state terror" - claiming that the road to virtue lay through political violence. This film combines drama, archive and documentary interviews to examine Robespierre's year in charge of the Committee Of Public Safety - the powerful state machine at the heart of Revolutionary France. Contesting Robespierre's legacy is Slavoj Zizek, who argues that terror in the cause of virtue is justifiable, and Simon Schama, who believes the road from Robespierre ran straight to the gulag and the 20th-century concentration camp. The drama, based on original sources, follows the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

BBC

Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution Trailers

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Cast

Narrator (voice)

Jan Pearson

Maximillian Robespierre

Stephen Hogan

Herault

Ed Stoppard

Couthon

Brian Pettifer

Self - Author 'The Terror'

David Andress

Collot

Martin Hancock

Self - Author 'The Great Nation'

Colin Jones

Carnot

Jonny Phillips

Self - Author - 'In Defence of Lost Causes'

Slavoj Žižek

Self - Author - 'Citizens'

Simon Schama

Self - Author - 'The Politics of Virtue'

Marisa Linton

Self - Author - 'A Place of Greater Safety'

Hilary Mantel

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