The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)
The 1947 Best Picture winner Gentleman’s Agreement is well-regarded for tackling the topic of anti-Semitism, just a couple of years after the end of World War II. While Elia Kazan’s film is a fascinating look at prejudice within American society, it is also preachy, pat and especially dated. For a more intriguing film about the same subject, audiences can look back to a decade earlier, for the fine biopic The Life of Emile Zola.
Although its bland title suggests otherwise, the film mainly focuses on a short period within the famed French writer and journalist’s life. The second (and better) half of the film focuses on Zola’s campaign on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish officer sent to languish in prison for a crime he did not commit. Zola battled the authorities and publicly defended Dreyfus in an attempt to free the wrongfully accused man.
Some have criticized the biopic for dialing back the references to Jews and anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, the images of the French people’s vile opposition to Dreyfus and his Jewish identity were especially potent during the late 1930s, when Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws, prohibiting Jews from various rights within German society, had already been enacted. The subtext felt modern, giving The Life of Emile Zola the same thrust of relevance for its period of release that Selma has in 2015.
