I recently saw a movie called Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, by Andre Couvillion. In Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, Couvillion uses the stories of three characters lives to show the social conditions of France in the late nineteen-sixties. While far less radical than his earlier work, Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite is an incredible film that pulls no punches. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite was made in 1967 after Couvillion served a five year prison term for a movie he made in 1961 entitled Fleur-De-Lis. Fleur-De-Lis was made in a turbulent time in France’s history. Three years earlier, the fifth republic came into power with a new constitution, co-authored by Charles DeGalle. Two years after that, France exploded its first nuclear bomb. Then in 1961, Fleur-De-Lis hit with the same potential power of the weapon set off just a year earlier. It was a shocking expose of the French president DeGalle’s terrorist exploits in Algeria. This gritty master work of French cinema lambasted the newly reformed French government and exposed the corruption in the Electoral College system then in place for the election of the president. It also showed DeGalle’s plans to use his new found nuclear technology on Algiers. President DeGalle’s administration caught wind of Couvillion’s Fleur-De-Lis months before its release, and knew its distribution must be thwarted. For the presidential election of 1962, France would be switching over to popular vote. DeGalle, knowing without the control of the Electoral College, would lose the election be this film released. They seized all known copies of the film and had them destroyed, thus disabling its release. Couvillion was thrown in a French prison, on fabricated charges, and forced to serve a five year sentence. Fragments of Fleur-De-Lis are know to exist, and it’s rumored that a complete print is somewhere in South America. I was fortunate enough to see about thirty minutes from different sections of the film. From these little fragments it is evident that this is truly a landmark in world cinema. My only hope is that one day the complete version of this film will surface, and its genius will rock the movie making industry to its core. It will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of film makers to express them selves in a brutally honest way, providing a new truth and insight in the world of moving pictures.

Very interesting info. Thank's.

I second that, very interesting. A challenge for Criterion, perhaps?

Just wondering, has anyone heard any new news on Le Treaux's new movie, "The Inheriant Radiance in All Things (Le radiance d'Inheriant dans toutes les choses)"?