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Le juge et l'assassin (1976)
Overly ambitious investigating judge gets his man
The story, set in the 1890s, is about investigating judge Rousseau (played by Philippe Noiret) who is determined to obtain a confession from a drifter named Bouvier who has raped and killed two dozen children in the countryside of France. The character Bouvier is closely based upon real-life French serial killer Joseph Vacher (vacher and bouvier both mean herdsman in French). Most French films depict the investigating judge as independent and ethical, but this film depicts an overly ambitious judge who believes that it will help his career if he can get Bouvier to confess to the crimes and have him punished by execution.
Bouvier is clearly mad, but if he is declared insane, he will not be executed, and Rousseau will not get the recognition he seeks. To deal with the question of whether Bouvier is insane, Rousseau selects the doctor who will examine him, which is the prerogative of the investigating judge in France. Rousseau is with his mother and his attorney friend Villedieu when he receives the doctor's report that Bouvier is sane. Rousseau is ecstatic, but Villedieu cynically remarks: "The servility of the medical corps never fails to astonish me. Sometimes it's embarrassing."
When Rousseau's bed-ridden mother scolds him for neglecting his duty to take the statements of witnesses, Rousseau responds: "What is more idiotic than a witness? I wouldn't believe them anyway. I want him to confess." Rousseau's first breakthrough comes when he tricks the mad-yet-clever Bouvier into describing on a wall map his route through France. With a piece of chalk, Bouvier traces his route from north to south, passing through the very places where the rapes and murders took place. Rousseau confronts him, and Bouvier promises to write a confession, which he eventually does.
Although not depicted in the film, the real-life murderer, Vacher, was found to be sane by the criminal court (cour d'assises) of Ain, and he was sentenced to death. The real-life Vacher was executed by guillotine on December 31, 1898.
Der Rat der Götter (1950)
Cold War propaganda film with inaccurate legal story
This Cold War propaganda film is based on the 1947 book I.G. Farben by American author Richard Sasuly about the Nuremberg trial of the chemical giant I.G. Farben. It is a skewed anti-war, anti-American, anti-industrialist story about the collaboration between the Nazi regime and international corporations to produce poisonous gases that were used to murder millions in the Holocaust. Sasuly had chaired the Kilgore Committee, which investigated I.G. Farben on behalf of the American military, and his book was based largely on his own experiences.
The real I.G. Farben trial, or "chemical trial," was the sixth of twelve war crimes trials that U.S. authorities held in Nuremberg after World War II. The indictment against former I.G. Farben directors was filed on May 3, 1947, and the trial lasted nearly a year, from August 1947 until July 1948. Thirteen of the twenty-four defendants were convicted, but they received light sentences and early release from prison. The film depicts a much speedier trial before seven German judges, whereas the real trial, which lasted nearly a year, was heard by four U.S. judges. The film is nonetheless instructive because it reflects the German perspective of the expansive power of the prosecutor.
Council of the Gods tells the legal story, starting in 1933, of I.G. Farben, a colossal German industrial corporation, that helps supply Hitler's war effort and manufactures the gas used in the gas chambers of the concentration camps. The directors of the company call themselves the "Council of the Gods" in reference to the painting that is displayed in the room where they meet. The painting depicts Greek gods who counsel Zeus in the clouds as a violent battle ensues among the mortals below them on Earth.
After the war, the company directors and others are charged with war crimes and held in pretrial detention pending the so-called "chemical trial" in Nuremberg. The seven-member panel consists of German judges. They all wear black robes, white shirts, and white bow ties. Because Germany is occupied by the United States, an American flag is draped on the wall behind the bench. The American prosecutors, Messrs. Wood and Lawton, are seated at a table directly below the judges' bench with their assistants. Mr. Wood is dressed in business attire, and military counsel Mr. Lawton is dressed in a U.S. Army uniform. About twenty defendants sit in a separate dock and their German defense attorneys sit in front of them. All of the defense attorneys are dressed in black robes, white shirts, and white bow ties.
The prosecutor and the presiding judge conduct most of the questioning, and occasionally defense counsel poses a question which the presiding judge restates to the witness. In the German Civil Law tradition and the principle of objectivity, the prosecutor elicits testimony that tends to help the defendants at the expense of the reputation of the U.S. and German governments. During recess, the military prosecutor Mr. Lawton consults with the presiding judge about having Mr. Wood replaced with a more partial prosecutor, and the presiding judge agrees.
The new prosecutor Mr. Howard negotiates a deal with the defendants whereby they will receive light sentences in exchange for dropping their request to call executives of Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell about their collaboration with Germany during the war. The defendants agree to the deal, and they are soon released from prison.
At the end of the film, I.G. Farben has resumed its production of explosives, and an accident at the plant claims the lives of several workers. This last scene is based on the real-life explosion, on July 28, 1948, at the BASF Ludwisghafen factory which killed 280 people and seriously injured thousands of others. The accident occurred during development of the film, and the filmmakers decided to incorporate it.