indiascribe satire

  (photo courtesy: YoutTube) 'Le Roi de Coer' (King of Hearts) is a French-Italian co-production movie released way back in 1966. manages to capture hearts to this day mainly on account of highlighting the absurdity of war. Managed to catch it on TV5 Monde Asie, a French channel available on Asianet broadband (channel no.426) recently. The film opens with the shot of an ancient town, complete with a church and its clock tower. As the clock strikes 12, a knight comes out and strikes 12 chimes on the bell. This is of great significance in the film as we will see. Well, with the movie being set during World War 1, the town is deserted by its citizens to escape the advancing Germans, camped somewhere on its outskirts. Similarly, the British forces are encamped nearby. When a spy from the French resistance informs the British about the German's plans to blow up the town, a Scottish soldier, Charles Plumpick, played by Alan Bates, is despatched to find, defuse and save the town.