DIPLOMACY IS ABOUT THE ART THAT SAVED ART
The order had been given by Hitler—destroy Paris. As allied forces approached in mid-1944, ailing General Dietrich von Choltitz (played by Niels Arestrup) was transferred to be the city’s occupying general who would carry out the order; disobeying the order would mean that his own children would be killed. All of a sudden, Raoul Nordling (André Dussollier), a Swedish consul, enters his room from a secret entrance into the lavish room of the commander on the top floor of a hotel overlooking the city. The diplomat’s mission is to stop the destruction, but his only weapon is his tongue. And what a tongue! He uses every imaginable argument and emotion to urge the general to disobey Hitler’s order, which has not yet been given, though preparations have been completed. One of the arguments is to suggest that the general would bring his children to visit Paris in five years and tell them that he, the general, saved the beautiful city from destruction. When the general collapses in an apparent attack to his heart, the diplomat brings him medication to save his life. The analogy works, and Paris is saved. Titles at the end indicate that the general was apprehended by allied forces but released, and that the two met together in Paris during 1955. The extraordinary conversation illustrates in many ways why peace is preferable to senseless wartime vengeance. Diplomacy (Diplomatie), directed by Volker Schlöndorff, has been nominated by the Political Film Society as the best film on peace of 2014. MH