“We need to set the record straight.” The subject who says this in The Sorrow and the Pity, Christian de La Mazière, himself seems deluded about what that might actually mean. While honest about his decision, as a Frenchman, to fight on the side of the Nazis in the waning days of World War II, he nonetheless seems to shrug his shoulders about the experience, suggesting he simply got caught up in the propagandistic fervor of the Hitler regime. Such “confessions” litter this massive documentary, which chronicles—via on-camera interviews and extensive archival footage—life in France under German occupation. Two frightening realities emerge: a significant portion of the French population was sympathetic to the anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic agenda of the Third Reich; and when faced with a fascist regime, most of us will choose to look the other way, desperate for life to go on as normally as possible. Directed by Marcel Ophuls, the movie is a wake-up call to anyone who thinks they can simply ride out humanity’s worst impulses. It’s sobering, and soberly made. Ophuls skillfully weaves together those interviews—with everyone from members of the French Resistance to Winston Churchill’s foreign secretary to a German veteran proudly displaying his war medals at a family wedding in 1969—with the historical footage, occasionally freezing the frame on a figure for gentle but pointed effect. No more flair is needed. As another subject says, “History will tell.”
(7/15/2026)
