One of three French entries ­ two features, one short feature ­ selected for Critics' Week, Orso Miret's De L'Histoire Ancienne (An Old Story) stands out as a political statement on the rather distant past, yet one that remains hard to ignore. Its theme, the French Resistance during the Second World War, has been tackled before ­ by René Clément in the fictional documentary The Battle Of The Rails, and by Marcel Ophüls in the documentary Hotel Terminus, both times in a manner that spurred discussion and sparked controversy.

On one side of the ledger, there are the heroes of the Resistance whose honour is protected by family and friends. On the other side, there are the shadowy figures, the traitors, the double-agents, the collaborators, even the innocent drawn into the maelstrom of fast-moving political events that they often cannot understand nor control, both during and after the war.

The death of a former hero now turns the investigation into the past upside down. Moreover, Guy feels guilty about the whole affair and now wishes to redeem his father's honour. And he's not the only one ­ Guy's sister and brother can hardly cope with their inconsolable mother, who soon has to be admitted to the hospital as a pathological case. Guy, faced with one personal failure after another, decides to take extreme measures to put the situation right.

Ron Holloway