De Gaulle: Liberte (Part 2)

De Gaulle: Liberte (Part 2) is showing at the Ultimate Picture Palace on Thursday 22 October, starting at 8.00pm. It's the second half of a two-part World War II biographical drama about Charles De Gaulle, the man who led the Free French Forces from London during the Nazi occupation of France.

If you've seen the first part, you know the setup: De Gaulle as the stubborn, towering figure of the Resistance, operating from exile and refusing to accept the Vichy regime's collaboration. This second part picks up where that left off, following him as he navigates the complicated road back to Paris and the struggle to re-establish French sovereignty after the liberation. It's a story that doesn't just look at the military side of things, but at the political fighting that went on behind the scenes.

One of the things the film focuses on is how De Gaulle had to hold his own against both his enemies and his allies. He spent as much time arguing with the Big Three — Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin — as he did fighting the Germans, always pushing for France to have a seat at the table and a say in its own future. It's that tension, the fight for French freedom and independence, that sits at the heart of the whole thing.

The film is shown in French with English subtitles, so you'll hear the original performances rather than a dub. It runs at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford, with the screening on Thursday 22 October at 8.00pm.