No. 32: The Sorrow and the Pity

1969, dir. Marcel Ophüls. Most people know it as a Woody Allen punchline, but Marcel Ophüls’ two-part documentary is far from the uber-depressing movie it was meant to be. Bravely debunking the self-serving myth—popular at the time of the film’s 1969 release—that all Frenchmen resisted the Nazis, Ophüls shows the same distant courtesy to heroes and scoundrels alike. The result is a deeply touching account of ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances.