If you’re looking for something related to Sergio Corbucci or Quentin Tarantino, one will have to keep searching. Rather, Django tells the story of famous musician Django Reinhardt as he flees from a German-occupied Paris in 1943. Premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival as its opener, the first trailer has now landed for Etienne Comar‘s drama starring Reda Kateb (A Prophet, Zero Dark Thirty) ahead of a release in France this spring.
We said in our review, “this drama about an artist who – at first – ignores the rise of far-right fascism in Europe (“who I play to is of no concern” Reinhardt argues) proves, by its close, an effective warning of the troubles of collaborationists and appeasers to society’s malignant forces. While it’s narratively unadventurous and its characters are undeveloped, this debut by French director Étienne Comar does have the ring of prescience, and is all the better for it.”
Check out the trailer below and we’ll update when English subtitles arrive.
France in 1943 during the German occupation. Every night, guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt delights Parisian audiences with his witty, life-affirming ‘gypsy swing’ music. Whilst many other Romany people are finding themselves the target of racist persecution and being murdered in concentration camps, Django believes himself to be safe due to his popularity – until agents of the Nazi propaganda machine demand that he goes on tour to Germany in order to counteract the influence of ‘negro music’ from the USA. Django Reinhardt refuses. One of his Parisian admirers helps him, his pregnant wife and his mother to hide out in a village close to the Swiss border; here he meets members of his large extended family who are also on the run. But when he tries to cross Lake Geneva into Switzerland with his wife and his mother, the Nazis are hot on his heels. In his directorial debut, Etienne Comar portrays an unconventional artist and free spirit whose life is as improvised as his music. Faced with the question of whether or not to allow his art to be misused for politcal purposes, he has to make a decision of vital significance.
Django hits theaters in France on April 26 and is awaiting U.S. distribution.