Release Date

01 Jan, 2009

Runtime

00:00: (HH:MM)

Synopsis

In 1794, French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre produced the world's first defense of "state terror" - claiming that the road to virtue lay through political violence. This film combines drama, archive and documentary interviews to examine Robespierre's year in charge of the Committee Of Public Safety - the powerful state machine at the heart of Revolutionary France. Contesting Robespierre's legacy is Slavoj Zizek, who argues that terror in the cause of virtue is justifiable, and Simon Schama, who believes the road from Robespierre ran straight to the gulag and the 20th-century concentration camp. The drama, based on original sources, follows the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.

Photos

×

Actors

Stephen Hogan

Ed Stoppard

Brian Pettifer

David Andress

Martin Hancock

Colin Jones

Jonny Phillips

Slavoj Žižek

Simon Schama

Marisa Linton

Hilary Mantel

Ruth Scurr

George Maguire

Jan Pearson

Crew