The bloody aftermath of the French Revolution is brought to vivid life in the confrontation between its two architects, Maximillian Robespierre and Georges Danton, progressive thinkers in a primitive age who became bitter adversaries when Robespierre elevated the good of the State over the good of the people. Rarely have such provocative ideas been expressed with such bold, physical vitality; director Andrzej Wajda captures the anarchy of the period with powerful immediacy, showing how absolute power corrupts even the most honorable intentions. Gerard Depardieu's angry, overt performance in the title role is worth singling out; the film might well have been named after the doomed statesman Robespierre, who holds center stage throughout, but his icy intellect is no match, at least theatrically, for Danton's oratory passion (and besides, Depardieu is a star). Neither character survives the conflict, and when Danton is finally executed the bloody guillotine becomes symbolic not only of the Reign of Terror, but of the Revolution's most noble ideas severed at their source.
