The Internationale
April 2007 Reviewed by: Joseph Taylor Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

In 1871, a series of events in France led to the formation in Paris of a group that called itself the Commune. The group opposed a number of actions by the French government, including a peace settlement with the Prussians following the Franco-Prussian war, and attempted to establish its own government in Paris. The Commune was composed of intellectuals and workers, and it called for progressive and socialist reforms. Armed action in May 1871 brought a bloody end to the Commune.

The Paris Commune gave socialists, communists, and anarchists their first martyrs, and a hymn to inspire them: Eugene Pottier, who was an elected member of the Commune, wrote a poem in June 1871 commemorating its actions. The opening lines set the tone:

Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.

Pierre Degeyter added music to Pottier’s poem (six verses and a chorus) and as Pete Seeger notes in The Internationale, Peter Miller’s documentary about the song, "This young musician had a hit song, at least in certain circles." The song soon spread throughout Europe and, eventually, the rest of the world and was translated into countless languages. Miller’s film opens with a montage of people from different countries, representing various causes, singing the song in their own languages.

Miller interviews political radicals, most of them from the ‘30s and ‘40s, who were inspired by "The Internationale." It was sung at May Day celebrations (which marked the achievements of the international labor movement) and at meetings by progressive groups. Bill Sussman, who volunteered to fight against the fascists in Spain during the ‘30s, recalls being inspired by the song as a child. Dorothy Ray Healy, a prominent leader in the Communist Party USA, Vladimir Zak, a Russian musicologist, and others talk about "The Internationale" and its powerful effect on them. For Zak, it represents his and his country’s past, as well as the Soviet Union’s failure to live up to the hopes of many of its supporters.

As the documentary illustrates, "The Internationale" was co-opted by the Soviet Union and, as musicologist Archie Green notes, "For non-communists, [it] began to pick up pejorative overtones." At one point, the song was set to a reggae beat, proving that some songs can’t be readily adapted to every genre of music -- or, perhaps, that political radicals can’t swing. Ironically, protesters opposed to the oppressive government in Communist China sang the song during the 1989 uprising in Tiananmen Square.

The Internationale tells the story of youthful hopes and how those hopes have been dashed. For anyone interested in radical politics in the 20th century, it will be informative. The sound is cleanly mastered, and one can’t expect more than that in a documentary. The film is short at 30 minutes, so the DVD includes a short film from 1944, Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations. Other bonuses include the full lyrics of "The Internationale" in several languages, and a history of the song.

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