Differing Understandings of Captivity in Uranus

Grüner | Differing Understandings of Captivity in Uranus Elliott Cruner United States Air Force Academy Differing Understandings of Captivity in Uranus ? 1995 French pilots became the first NATO POWs of the Bosnian conflict. Their captivity and eventual release became the subject of speculation-and then consternation. Although they were in relatively good health, as part of the continuing political maneuvering in that crisis, they had apparently been tortured and otherwise mistreated during their four-month ordeal. That their release cleared a "final hurdle" for the Dayton peace agreement was hopeful; that their treatmentwas yet anotherwar crime to be forgotten deepened anxiety over any kind of lasting settlement.1 Either way, this most recent episode points out how important differing understandings of captivity are as well as the significance of appreciations of the history and representation of captivity in France toward a view of captivity that may help illuminate the roots of current crises and heal the wounds of those past. POWs and hostages have always appealed to Americans. Whether it is a hostage episode in Queens or seven years in the Hanoi Hilton, Americans always want to know what it was like, what happens when human beings lose their freedom. When Europeans first arrived in America, Puritan ministers demonized Native Americans and valorized their own beliefs by using and remaking stories of white captives such as Mary Rowlandson and Mercy Short. Puritan captivity stories became popular again during the American Revolution when residents of Boston, New York, and other British-held cities and towns identified with these earlier captive Americans; indeed, Americans saw their entire fledgling nation as a British hostage. During the 19th Century, Indian captivity stories from the frontier fascinated and aroused a nation bent on expansion and the extermination of Native Americans. In each case captivity stories appealed to popular anxieties about, and provided expedient justifications for, conflict. Captivities had entertained and frightened Americans for centuries before the headline "America held hostage" made Ted Koppel famous. 68 I Film & History World War II in Film | Special In-Depth Section It is important to remember that other cultures do not venerate captives to the extent America does. Some consider surrender under any circumstance an act of cowardice. Americans are, therefore, self-conscious about rewarding captivity. For example, the United States Congress debated for years before approving the rather humble POW Medal during the 1980s. The importance and problematic reception of the captive in American culture is just one reason why differing understandings and representations of captivity are so important. Such a different understanding emerges in the recent French film Uranus (1991). In France of 1945 angst over the prisoners' dilemma had a special significance. The unique position ofthat nation during World War II exposed not only its soldiers, but also its entire population to the captivity experience .2 French courts are just beginning to confront this legacy. Paul Touvier's recent trial, the first trial of a French citizen for crimes against humanity committed during World War II, demonstrated once again the lingering consequences ofthe Occupation, the chilling mood ofwhich was captured yet again in Andre Halimi's recent Chantons Sous L'Occupation (1994). France's postwar problems prompted Marcel Ayme to write the novel that eventually became Claude Berri's Uranus, an examination of how the inhabitants of one small town dealt with the legacy from five years ofNazi occupation. The story begins in the Archambaud household where husband (Jean-Pierre Marielle), wife (Danielle Lebrun), and two adolescent children share an apartment with the local Communist Party Committee chair, Gaigneux (Michel Blanc), his wife, and their two young daughters. A school teacher, Watrin (Philipe Noiret) rents a room from Archambaud. Domestic squabbles mirror the political tensions between the two families: the Archambauds, an affluent family, must share their lodgings with the proletarian family Gaigneux whose dress, standards of cleanliness, and household schedule offend the pretentious Mme. Archambaud. These conflicts are exacerbated by the arrival of a Nazi collaborator on the run, Maxime Loin (Gerard Desarthe). Loin asks Archambaud for shelter from his enemies. Archambaud reluctantly agrees and smuggles Loin into his house under the nose of Gaigneux, who would most certainly turn him in. Loin's arrival...