The Patriots of Year I
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Format: Full-length feature film, based on a true story
Logline
This true story follows the tumultuous adventures of a young provincial soldier full of hope, joining the nascent French Revolutionary Army in 1793 to defend his country, without knowing that he actually embarks on an epic journey that will last for 8 long years.
Plot summary
When former King of France Louis XVI is executed in 1793, all neighboring monarchies immediately fight back and form a Coalition against the new French Republic. As the candid 19-year-old Jean-Baptiste Malbranche joins the nascent French Revolutionary Army in order to defend his homeland and its values, he has no idea that he is actually embarking for almost a decade on a series of wild adventures. He will indeed travel far beyond borders across Europe, multiplying unexpected encounters and discoveries. In turn left for dead on the battlefield, made prisoner of war and then freed, exposed to terrible living conditions before being severely injured while combatting, the young Patriot will also lose tragically most of his brothers in arms over the years. However, never abandoning his goodwill and his positive thinking, he will go on relentlessly and will manage to come back alive to his family, exhausted after a tough but unforgettable journey.
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More about the story
This movie depicts - for the first time onscreen - the often-overlooked saga of the courageous young French patriots who defended their country and their republican values, far away from Paris, right after the French Revolution and before the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. The story is directly based on a recently published (and fact-checked) notebook written more than 200 years ago by the main protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Malbranche, who kept detailed reports about his adventures during the Revolutionnary Wars. Watch the video at the top of this page to see some of these documents. If you want to get more details, contact me!
What is it like?
Although the period and the storyline are not really the same, this movie can be described as in the vein of "War Horse".
Playlist
This is just to give a better impression of the mood of this story.