Story of the unknown soldier

标题卡：“本片由1928年的时事摘录剪辑而成，当年Briand-Kellog白里安-柯洛格非战公约宣布战争为非法。”

1932年影片在法国被禁。

影片简介：

当政治家开始大放厥词，演说和平之时，本片则令人感到：一切这些所谓维护和平的国际会议，都无可避免地在为下一场战争作着准备。与上一场战争一样，新鲜而刺激。通过残酷的影像拼接，民众与士兵们无休止的游行，献花的祈福者，喋喋不休的评议员，以及悼念死者的纪念碑揭幕仪式，影片对军队与教会间的无耻勾结进行严厉斥责。画面中建筑物的倒塌，正在被挖掘的坟场，都是对企图用枪炮来操纵整个世界的魔首们下场的直接讽喻。在加了音效的新版本里，极为讽刺的送葬队伍和激昂的军乐旋律，将这些影像所表现出来的简明而干脆的暴力，再次进行了挑染。

导演阐述：

“本片的灵感源自对一个乌托邦式的想法的否定，即战争的非法性与国防消耗的毫无意义都将于1940年被证实。民众和士兵们被出卖了。一场所谓为了终结其他战争而发动的战争只不过是一个神话。所谓“无名公民”的象征，实际上只是一名来自社会底层的士兵，一名为了保卫祖国而泼洒热血的无名士兵。而所谓的“伟大的联盟”政策实则成就了一个武器贩子的时代。被人们用华丽铺张的葬礼进行膜拜崇敬的“无名士兵”，实则只是像一只可怜的动物那样在战争中任人宰割。本片没有旁白，是一部政治家和各国首脑们的影像集锦。在片中我们可以瞥见以下人物的画面：
法国外长阿里斯蒂德•白里安(，杜梅格总统，第三共和国总理保罗班勒维,，警察局长Chiappe，马其诺，墨索里尼，Umberto亲王,匈牙利统治者Horthy和Poincar，勒布兰和达尔迪约总统，里昂市长艾希尤，伦敦市长，西班牙国王阿方斯三世，威尔士亲王，麦克唐纳，贝当元帅，胡福总统，施特雷泽曼，墨西哥总统，福煦和美国参议员柯洛格，曾因倡议缔结九国非战公约而获得诺贝尔和平奖。”
“一部有力揭露政治家伪善的反战影片。”

Ado Kyrou,《电影中的超现实》, Le Terrain vague, Paris, 1963.

“《无名士兵》当年曾被法国禁放。它像是一份反对军队，反对教会，反对资本主义世界的讽刺传单。在这里，导演斯托克对于军队的重整，各种独裁势力的抬头，所谓和平条约的苍白无力都进行严厉指责，并对希特勒即将上台这一不祥凶兆做出了预见。然而，这些都是真实的新闻录像，没有演员的表演可以对强权的猥亵登台进行粉饰，没有任何虚构成分可以对军队阅兵和神圣的教堂场景做出辩解。”
A visionary film which, while politicians were making pacifist speeches, perceived that all these peace conferences were inescapably preparing another war, fresh and joyous, like the last one. This ferocious collection of images of civilians and soldiers endlessly parading denounces the alliance of the Army and the Church, the blessers of wreaths, the windbag orators, the inaugurations of monuments to the dead. A huge gathering of puppeteers pulling the strings of the world and the canon shots, are turned into metaphors by the images of buildings collapsing and excavation sites where mass graves are being dug up. The synoptic and syncopated violence of the images is, in the version with sound, reinforced by ironic funeral marches, military music or light-hearted melodies.

Director’s statement:

"The structure of this film is born of a conflict between an utopian idea, the outlawing of war and the senseless spending on military defense that would be shown to be derisory in 1940. Citizens and war veterans were betrayed. The war to end all wars as they said back then was just a myth. The symbol of the anonymous citizen was indeed the poor Unknown Soldier from the lower classes who had spilled his blood defending his country. Now was the time of the arms dealers, thanks to the policy of the great nations. But the poor Unknown Soldier, cut down like an animal, continued to be venerated, buried with great pomp and ceremony... This film is without commentary. It is a gallery of images of politicians and heads of state. We catch glimpses of Aristide Briand, president Doumergue, Paul Brudent Painlevé, the chief of police Chiappe, Maginot, Mussolini, Prince Umberto, the regent of Hungary, Horthy, Poincaré, the presidents Lebrun and Tardieu, the mayor of Lyon Herriot, the lord-mayor of London, Alphonse XIII King of Spain, Ramsay MacDonald, the Prince of Wales, Marshall Pétain, president Hoover, Streseman, the president of Mexico, Foch, and Kellogg, the American senator who signed a pact that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize."

Henri Storck, 1959

Critics:

"A strongly pacifist film that reveals the hypocrisy of politicians."

Ado Kyrou, Le surréalisme au cinéma, Le Terrain vague, Paris, 1963.

"Histoire du Soldat inconnu was, at the time, banned by the French censor. It is a satirical tract against the Army, the Church, Capital. Here Storck denounces the threat of rearmament, the rise of various dictatorships, the futility of peace treaties and foresees the sinister threat of Hitler. Ultimately, this was genuine cinematographic news. There were no actors save the obscene apparitions of power, no staging save that of the military parades and sacred ornaments."

Michele Canosa, Henri Storck, il litorale belga, Campanotto Editore, Udine, 1994.

4444(创建者)