Comments on: Charlotte Gray : Flawed but watchable

By: Dina

Dina — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:20:40 +0000

I will watch it sometime, but fully trust your judgment Mala

By: Mala

Mala — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:38:50 +0000

Well.. see it yourself first. It could be the way I interpret it.

By: Dina

Dina — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:25:50 +0000

*jawdropsindisbelief*
While I’m very much pro-artistic freedom taking bits and pieces of a Résistance heroine’s life and turning it into a consistently failing woman is pretty unethical to me, script and storyline-wise.
I mean this woman DID blow up railroad tracks in reality – pretty mean portraying her as a woman who jeopardizes other resistance members’ lives under the coat of fiction.
I guess it’s one of those convenient stories – women have good intentions, but cannot do much – and in fight actually jeopardize missions. Sweet!

By: Mala

Mala — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:48:12 +0000

Dina…
Charlotte Gray the movie is based on the novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks. The story seems to be based on the lives of two women, Nancy Wake and Pearl Comioley. I must say, the film didn’t portray Charlotte Gray as that much of a heroine. She was more driven by her love for Peter Gregory, and once in France and involved in the resistance, she seemed to get caught up in it. She didn’t actually lead anything or do anything proactive. I got the impression she was just one tiny link in a chain of people and things. She also didn’t particularly succeed at anything in the film. She tried to go looking for her lover – she didn’t find him. And he was there. She tried to save two Jewish kids – she couldn’t. They were finally taken away. She also inadvertently ruined one of the missions of the resistance group she was with, leading to the deaths of a several people. Here’s a wikipedia entry on the book and film etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Gray_(novel).

By: Dina

Dina — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:10:52 +0000

Hi Mala!
I wonder if this movie is based on an actual British/French woman who was a key figure of the Résistance?
If so – the movie seems to not do her justice!
Pearl Cornioley (I might have misspelled her name) was recruited by the British to my knowledge (she grew up in Paris to British emigrant parents – maybe they went back to Britain as the Nazis conquered parts of France incl Paris). She was instructed on how to become a spy and facilitaor between allied troupes and the French resistance.
She must have been a really tough one, that’s why I think the tears and agony story, although understandable in fiction, does not do her justice!
Apparently a British commander educating her in the use of fire arms and explosives said she was the best shooter he had ever experienced, *male and female*.
She was a significant figure indeed in blowing up railway tracks to cut nazi supply and otherwise supported the resistance. She must have become such a threat she was the most sought after resistant to the Nazi command in France (presumably also because she was a woman – must have been especially degrading and humiliating to the Nazi reign).
Pretty amazing for a woman at that time, isn’t it!
Another parallel to the movie is many of her co-fighters were indeed caught, she never was. She died in the 90s I believe.
Fascinating woman.
A facts-based movie on her would be a delight.
But Hollywood seems to allow for tragic/bruised/heartbroken female heroines only, not “valkyrie”/amazone-like women fighters