Germinal (1993)

★★★
The following is a term paper I wrote for a French literature class back in 2000. I think I got a B+ for this.

Realism is the literary style that focuses on precision and rigorous details. The works of Balzac and Flaubert helped pave the way for realism, but another style called naturalism pushed the concept of realism even further. It paid even greater attention to what was real, and while realism sometimes contains a hint of idealism, naturalism contains no hint at all. Instead, there is an absolute faithfulness to reality. Émile Zola worked at making sure every detail was accurate, in order not to evoke any ideal or symbolist elements. He employed the idea of naturalism in his book Germinal.

Naturalism has its own distinguishing features that differentiate it from the other literary genres. There are no lies or cheating in its depiction of life, but rather a bold and sometimes sad look at the plight of its characters. The style was more concerned with emphasizing the situations of the common people. There is also a nod towards the rich and noble, but these aspects are shown in a negative light. The commoners are the heroes, while those with money are the real villains—they are thieves who live off the efforts of those beneath them.

When bringing a book to the big screen, there are three ways that the screenwriter can adapt the novel. There is the loose translation, which is a movie that has very little to do with the actual book but retains some resemblance to the source. A literal adaptation is common for adapting plays, in that they are always scene-for-scene and word-for-word. Claude Berri’s film, Germinal, is what is known as a faithful adaptation. In this sort of adaptation, the movie can’t contain all elements of the book, so the movie boils the book down to its essence. It captures nearly accurately the main theme of the book. Faithful adaptations are generally difficult to do, but here Claude Berri is successful in evoking the naturalism of Zola’s novel.

The story takes place in the late 1800s in a coal mining town in northern France. The coal miners who work here are on the brink of starvation, as they must contend with low wages and greedy bosses. The families are packed in tight little homes where they must bathe in plain sight of other family members. They do get free medical attention and coal, but they must purchase their food at high prices. The look of the town, as depicted in the film, looks very authentic in its run-down buildings and dirty look. The workers spend much of the day covered in coal dust, and sometimes they vomit it. Berri depicts the workers as noble people who are proud of what they do, who practically inherit the job, yet they are unhappy at the pay strategy issued by the owners.

The owners are seen in big, luxury homes, eating the best food and living a good life. They are not truly evil people, but rather they are bosses who are concerned about their workers, yet at the same time fear bankruptcy if they don’t deliver the shipments of coal. Therefore, they run the mine like a slave plantation, where miners work for hours on little pay. Funds are tight and raises are out of the question. Since they pay the workers very little, it is not uncommon for families to have many children. That way, when the children grow up, they can immediately begin working in the mines to bring in more income for the family. There are still problems with this, because the local company store charges high prices for bread and other goods. The storekeeper has been giving away free food long enough, and refuses to give anyone more credit until someone pays. In keeping with the naturalistic view, Berri makes the storekeeper into someone who fits right in with the villains by turning him into a pervert who will give food away if someone sleeps with him.

It doesn’t take long for Berri to draw the line and establish which characters belong on which side. The victims and villains are clearly painted. Berri now lets the story progress, and we watch how the miners develop a revolt and plan to strike if they don’t get better wages. They are paid by how many carts they fill, yet in order to get to the coal, they need to strengthen the tunnels using timber. The arrogance and ignorance of the owners is now seen in full force. In order to cut down on costs, they charge the workers to buy the timber to fortify the mines, which takes time away from mining, which decreases the pay for the workers.

To ensure that Zola’s naturalistic vision is preserved for the entire running time, Berri divides the miners in an attempt to establish further the depravity of the owners. The main characters, Étienne (Renaud) and Maheu (Gérard Depardieu), are the leaders of the revolt, and they encourage other miners to join in. Not everyone wants to be part of the strike, and in order to protect those who want to work, the owners call in the military to protect the workers and keep the strikers out. By bringing in the military, it becomes clearer that the owners are still thinking about making money. They not only want to keep out the strikers, but protect those who choose to work so they can continue to haul carts of coal.

Aside from the appearance of the workers and the acts of the bosses, the look of the film is flawless in atmosphere and setting. The sky seems to be overcast throughout the film. The movie has a dreary look, which emphasizes the darker colors to drown out any bright colors, which in effect shows how the characters look forward to little progress as each day blurs into the next. Then there are the final scenes, in which a cave-in traps the workers inside.

The cave-in was a result of sabotage, but the real culprits are the owners, who have mismanaged how the mines should be strengthened, which resulted in the disaster. The cave-in is a metaphor for the owners’ oppression, in that it is an indirect result of their policies yet directly affects the workers.

Claude Berri’s tactic is a simple one: Establish early in the film who everyone is, then allow them to make their decisions so we can see the naturalistic rules at play. This is not an idealist or romantic view of the world, but rather a bleak and gritty one. From beginning to end, there is nothing but poverty for the miners. It’s impossible for them to move out, and since they don’t make enough money, they can't afford to buy a new home elsewhere. Every generation, the owners sink further into the hole they have dug for themselves, because with each new generation that arrives comes more workers who have no choice but to work in the dark mines for an entire day, sometimes without seeing the sun. The whole point of Zola’s novel was to depict as accurately as possible the working and living conditions of the miners. He accomplished this task by approaching the material from a naturalistic point of view, and Claude Berri was able to capture that naturalism in the look of his ambitious film.

© 2000 Silver Screen Reviews