Germinal-Film GERMINAL: THE FILM

Germinal is a realistically depicted tale of coal miners in 19th century France. The life of these downtrodden workers has been presented so vividly that we almost find ourselves living in that period while reading the book. With the fame and acclaim that it received, it was no surprise that the book was made into a movie by French director Claude Berri.

There are few flaws in this version of Germinal, however, still it cannot compete with the paper version. This is not because of poor direction or less than perfect acting, but because of the fact that a film cannot capture every single detail that the book provides. For example, the worker's pay system, development of unions and references to International Workingmen's Association are not presented in the same fashion as the novel does.

Jack Matthews of Newsday (1994) writes:

Even in a film that runs more than two and a half hours, it is impossible to retell a novel in every detail, particularly one as specific to a time and place and social condition as "Germinal." In their attempt, they've turned one entire level of the story - that of the ruling class - into a shallow stream of "arrogant rich" cliches."

The film is more than two and a half hours long but still manages to barely cover the most important facts. I personally believe that it does

Still when compared with the book, the film fails to leave an impression of same magnitude. But impression, it does leave. There is no element of optimism anywhere in the movie, no romanticizing about the life of the coal-miners and no gray shades in between. This is the case with the book too where we find every single detail and fact presented in two colors of black and white.
For example in Part IV of the book:

we are given a vivid recounting of the miseries of a terrible ageless January during which the workers must eke out the very minimum of subsistence. In these bizarre surroundings, Zola created a strangely negative white as a black-opposite, giving a terrifying Surreal and Expressionistic X-Ray effect in this cave that was once its natural color of black. It is now, however, embalmed and petrified in a dusty, powdery white, exuding a frightening ethery smell of an abandoned coal mine; even its timbering seems petrified, giving off "a yellow pallor of marble, fringed with white lace, with flaky vegetation which would seem to form a draped embroidery of silk and pearls" (Part IV, Chapter 6, Germinal)." (Monarch Notes, 1963).

However the one prominent difference between the colors of the film and the book are the latter also covers the background of those colors. This is…