AllMovie

A moving tribute to three soldiers who were killed in 1939-1940, including the father of director Pierre Beuchot ((%Roger Beuchot)), this docudrama is worth seeing to remind one of the human cost of war. Excerpts from the daily letters of writer and intellectual Paul Nizan, film composer Maurice Jaubert, and Beuchot reveal in poignant detail the last days of their lives as they faced the devastation of war. Archival footage and old newsreels set the larger context against which the private lives and sudden deaths of these three men become all the more significant. Jaubert's music is evocatively featured here as well, adding the melodies of a lost creativity to an already tragic tale.