Formal Analysis

      Fade-in to an establishing shot of the mountains. The camera pans downwards to frame in a high-angle shot Maréchal and Rosenthal huddled together asleep on the ground. They awaken, get up, followed by a pan, and move away. Dissolve. In a long shot, Maréchal and Rosenthal walk down a mountain road covered with snow. Rosenthal, who is lagging behind, is limping along with the help of a walking stick. The men walk toward the camera, which tracks backwards in front of them. Cut. The two men stop in a medium shot, with the mountains in the background, and begin to argue. The camera tracks in to a near shot: the quarrel intensifies. Rosenthal loses control and screams at Maréchal to “get out of [his] sight.” A short tracking shot backwards accompanies Maréchal’s departure and comes to a stop in a long shot on Rosenthal. Cut. Near shot of Rosenthal, close to tears, singing “There once was a little boat.” Cut. A long shot of Maréchal walking towards the camera singing the second verse of the same song. The camera tracks backwards as Maréchal walks towards it and then beyond it and out of the frame. Cut. Near shot of Rosenthal weeping, his head lowered. Maréchal comes into the frame on the right, his body cut by the edge of the frame. Slight pan to the right and upwards to frame Maréchal’s upper body in a near shot. Pan to the left following Maréchal’s movement as he helps Rosenthal up and leads him out of the frame.

Commentary

      At the beginning of the sequence we see Maréchal and Rosenthal lying against each other, united against the hostile elements. The first pan integrates them into this cold, threatening world, which perhaps foreshadows the hostility which will soon invade their relationship. In the second shot they are already separated, a fact which is emphasized by the distance between them on the road. Strained to the breaking point by both the physical suffering (hunger, fatigue, the cold — not to mention Rosenthal’s severely sprained ankle) and the psychological suffering (discouragement, fear), the two friends are becoming hostile to each other. When the quarrel breaks out, the camera tracks forward to frame them in a near shot, intensifying the emotional character of the scene (the closer the shot, the greater the tension…). The slight tracking out at the end of the quarrel signals Maréchal’s imminent departure, punctuated by a cut. The following shot features Rosenthal alone for the first time in the sequence, emphasizing the separation of the two men.

      The song begun by Rosenthal to show Maréchal that he is doing fine and doesn’t need him is taken up, in the following shot, by Maréchal, who is now also alone for the first time. In the last shot of the sequence, Maréchal joins Rosenthal in the same frame, indicating the reconciliation of the two friends, the triumph of solidarity and fraternity over personal suffering, self-interest, and the visceral racism brought to the surface by the quarrel. The cut editing of this sequence, its abrupt nature after the two dissolves at the beginning, hardens the tone and underlines the violence of the emotions, the growing hostility between the two characters. We recall that the song, “There once was a little boat,” is the same tune that Boëldieu played to facilitate Maréchal and Rosenthal’s escape. Did Maréchal remember Boëldieu’s sacrifice? Is this a partial explanation for his change of heart, the feeling of solidarity (and shame) which brings him back to help Rosenthal?