The Guardian view on French cinema’s De Gaulle moment: present anxieties inform a new focus on the past | Editorial

A wave of films dealing with the second world war is captivating a nation facing major contemporary challenges For weeks now, anglophone cinephiles have been focusing their attention on the virtues and vices of Christopher Nolan’s $250m adaptation of The Odyssey. Across the Channel, however, Homer’s epic tale of a flawed Greek hero has been facing stiff domestic competition. A two-part biopic of General Charles de Gaulle, concentrating on his struggles to liberate France during the second world war, has been the word-of-mouth box office hit of the French summer. It may be that five hours’ worth of De Gaulle attracted some punters seeking air-conditioned sanctuary from the heatwaves. But there have been rave reviews both from critics and audiences, and a notable upsurge of interest among the young. The success of the films has already had a cultural knock-on effect, boosting the number of visitors, for example, to the Museum of the Liberation of Paris. The buzz around them is all the more striking given that the austere, aloof De Gaulle – in stark contrast to Winston Churchill – has remained a somewhat shadowy and elusive cinematic presence. Some of the cut-through has bee