‘Digger’ Is Smug, Cynical, And Perfectly Timed

On the night of May 10, 1968, the most storied night in the last century of French of civil unrest, nearly 40,000 students faced off against policemen in the Latin Quarter of Paris—one of the largest crowds the city's swelling protest movement had yet assembled. Famously, cobblestones were torn up from the streets to erect barricades. By the time morning broke, hundreds of demonstrators had been beaten bloody or arrested anyway. That same evening, the Cannes Film Festival opened with a ceremony hosted by retired actress Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and a screening of a restored edition of Gone With the Wind. That juxtaposition quickly led to calls for the festival’s suspension. On May 18, after a week of resistance from Cannes’s organizers, a group of filmmakers and guests led by the directors Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard held a press conference demanding a closure. “There isn’t one film showing the problems going on today among workers and students⁠—not one, whether by Forman, myself, Polanski, or Francois,” Godard said. “There are none. We’re behind the times. Our student comrades set an example by getting their heads bashed in last week.” There were grumbles in the crowd at this, and Godard’s patience snapped. “We’re talking solidarity with students and workers, and you’re talking dolly shots and close-ups!” he yelled. “You’re assholes!”

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