YifIa‘ dlykt 4o X' too pel 44 tenez, eor9J At The Movies Oakland Press maZe a come/ad at .gamt),Aatiz Observer & Eccentric Open 7 days a week! CND I -A `Safe Conduct' I Sunday-Wednesday Dark comedy focuses on the dilemmas faced by the "ordinary people" who worked in France's booming movie industry during the German Occupation. OFF 0 ek TOTAL 1 BILL Not Good with any other offer. Expires 3/31 /03. OFF TOTAL %.P BILL V .% AUDREY BECKER Special to the Jewish News Not Good with any other offer. Expires 3/31/03. FRESH SOUPS. ,SALADS & CREPES 172 N. Old Woodward (NE corner of Maple & N. Old Woodward) (248) 283-0260 It ffeat re 69 to- awe/ ts- Ptubah4 1 I Night stay at THE WESTIN SOUTHFIELD-DETROIT Thurs.. Fri.. Sat.. or Sun. Night F Breakfast"For 2 at Tango & $60 Dinner. Gift Certificate to Musashi. Tax & gratuity not included . 1 HAPPY HOUR Monday - Friday 4:45 to 5:45 pm OF FOOD & BEVERAGE SO% MUSASHI . r -\ • ) JAPANESE CUISINE AND SUSHI BAR Since 1985 Catering & Delivery Large & Small Private Rooms Available FREE Garage Parking 248-358-1911 • 2000 Town Center, Southfield locate&next to The Westin on Lodge Service Drive www.musashi-intl.com . discreetly photographs military docu- ments, transports grenades and partici- pates in secret missions. A complementary subplot follows Jean Aurenche (Denis Podalydes), an idealistic and philosophical screenwriter who adamantly refuses Continental's repeated offers of work. Living off the largesse of his three mis- tresses, Aurenche channels his passion into scriptwriting, where he disguises hen movies about the movie industry succeed, they often do so by engaging the audience in a knowing, self-referential wink. Think Singing in the Rain or Cinema Paradiso. Based on actual people and events, Bertrand Tavernier's Safe Conduct ("Laissez Passer"), running March 7-9 at the Detroit Film Theatre, is a very different kind of film about filmmaking. Set in Paris during the German Occupation, Safe Conduct explores the politics and person- alities of Continental Films, a Nazi-controlled movie studio that commandeered the French film- making community during World War II. Although at times darkly comic, this is no wistful, nostal- gic glance at the art of making pictures. Tavernier — once described by Martin Scorcese as "France's lead- Jacques Gamblin, ing director" — expertly presents left, and Denis the gritty humor that emerges Podalydes in from the disjunction between the "Safe Conduct" French cinema artists and their German "bosses. " his subversive political views in period Facing the threat of being deported story lines. to Germany to learn more "efficient" In one scene, studio founder Albert movie making techniques, the French Greven attempts to persuade Aurenche filmmakers in Safe Conduct become to work for Continental. "I want to masters of economy and resourceful- make good films," he says. "Hence, I ness. The film centers on a pair of histori- need good scriptwriters. " Why has he been unable to find the cal figures: two men in the movie talent he seeks? "No more Jews. Not business who resisted the German in Germany. Not here," Greven powers each in his own way. reports matter-of-facdy. "The best writers were Jews — all gone." No More Jews Throughout, Safe Conduct continu- ally reminds viewers of the harsh con- Jean Devaivre (Jacques Gamblin) — sequences of war and the realities of upon whose memoirs Safe Conduct is anti-Semitism. But it also reminds us based — is an assistant director who of the importance of creating art, even willingly signs up with Continental, under the most dire of circumstances. but only as a front for his participa- Director Tavernier has pointed out tion with the French resistance. that "in the 34 films produced by Unflinchingly courageous, Davaivre Continental, there is barely an anti-; Semitic reference or an encouragement to people to collaborate [with the Nazis]. It's as if cinema was more important than ideology." Works On Many Levels Unfortunately, while the experiences of Devaivre and Aurenche are dramatized with superb, intense performances, Safe Conduct at times feels a bit diffuse. With a running time of nearly three hours, it's a long film — and feels like it. What's more, most of the specific references to French actors, directors, and films will be lost on American audi- ences. Indeed, the unfamiliarity of the details contributes to what is already a somewhat disorienting narrative. Yet Tavernier reconstructs the era with such surgical precision and pres- ents his story with such engaging detail, that one is liable to forgive the sometime tedious pace and meander- ing plot development. For devotees of French cinema — as Well as for those of us less versed in French film history —Safe Conduct works on many levels. Not only a historical drama, the film is a tribute to the art of moviemaking. Moreover, it's a testament to the human need to tell a good story, even in the face of death. ❑ The Detroit Film Theatre screens Safe Conduct 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 7-9, at the Detroit Institute of Arts. $6.50. (313) 833-3237.