He was one of the few directors of war movies with first-hand experience of conflict
Pierre Schoendoerffer, who has died aged 83, was one of the few directors of war films who had actually lived out the adventures of his soldier heroes. The American film-makers William Wellman, Sam Fuller and Oliver Stone did so, but no other director explored the same subject as single-mindedly and doggedly as Schoendoerffer.
His experiences of combat as a military cameraman and as a prisoner of war during the conflict in Indochina marked his output, most directly La 317ème Section (The 317th Platoon, 1965), about a doomed French unit; Le Crabe-Tambour (The Drummer Crab, 1977), about French officers involved in the fall of the French empire after the second world war; his Oscar-winning television documentary La Section Anderson (The Anderson Platoon, 1967), which followed the lives of Us soldiers in Vietnam; and Diên Biên Phú (1992), about a Us war...
Pierre Schoendoerffer, who has died aged 83, was one of the few directors of war films who had actually lived out the adventures of his soldier heroes. The American film-makers William Wellman, Sam Fuller and Oliver Stone did so, but no other director explored the same subject as single-mindedly and doggedly as Schoendoerffer.
His experiences of combat as a military cameraman and as a prisoner of war during the conflict in Indochina marked his output, most directly La 317ème Section (The 317th Platoon, 1965), about a doomed French unit; Le Crabe-Tambour (The Drummer Crab, 1977), about French officers involved in the fall of the French empire after the second world war; his Oscar-winning television documentary La Section Anderson (The Anderson Platoon, 1967), which followed the lives of Us soldiers in Vietnam; and Diên Biên Phú (1992), about a Us war...
- 3/16/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Oscar-winning Director Schoendoerffer Dead At 83
Oscar-winning director Pierre Schoendoerffer has died at the age of 83.
He passed away in his native France on Wednesday.
The filmmaker served as a cameraman in the French army during the 1950s and he spent four months in Indochina as a prisoner of war after being captured by the Vietnamese guerrillas in 1954.
Upon his release, Schoendoerffer became a war correspondent and then embarked on a film career winning acclaim for his gritty movie The 317th Platoon. He also wrote and directed Drummer Crab and A Captain's Honor, and, in 1968, he earned an Academy Award for his documentary The Anderson Platoon.
Paying tribute to the director, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called him "one of the very rare French directors who, thanks to the universality of his message, won an Oscar."...
He passed away in his native France on Wednesday.
The filmmaker served as a cameraman in the French army during the 1950s and he spent four months in Indochina as a prisoner of war after being captured by the Vietnamese guerrillas in 1954.
Upon his release, Schoendoerffer became a war correspondent and then embarked on a film career winning acclaim for his gritty movie The 317th Platoon. He also wrote and directed Drummer Crab and A Captain's Honor, and, in 1968, he earned an Academy Award for his documentary The Anderson Platoon.
Paying tribute to the director, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called him "one of the very rare French directors who, thanks to the universality of his message, won an Oscar."...
- 3/14/2012
- WENN
Paris — Pierre Schoendoerffer, an Oscar-winning French filmmaker who was held prisoner in Indochina and chronicled the pain of war on screen and on the page, has died. He was 83.
The French military health service confirmed that he died Wednesday. France's Le Figaro newspaper said Schoendoerffer died in a hospital outside Paris after an operation.
"France will miss him," President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement that praised the "legendary filmmaker and novelist" for risking his life for France and "helping us better understand our collective history."
Born in central Franceo on May 5, 1928, Schoendoerffer served as a cameraman in the French army in the 1950s and volunteered to be parachuted into the besieged fortress of Dien Bien Phu, where the decisive battle of the French war in Indochina was fought.
When the stronghold fell to the Vietnamese guerrilla army in May 1954, Schoendoerffer was captured and spent four months in a Pow camp before being repatriated.
The French military health service confirmed that he died Wednesday. France's Le Figaro newspaper said Schoendoerffer died in a hospital outside Paris after an operation.
"France will miss him," President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement that praised the "legendary filmmaker and novelist" for risking his life for France and "helping us better understand our collective history."
Born in central Franceo on May 5, 1928, Schoendoerffer served as a cameraman in the French army in the 1950s and volunteered to be parachuted into the besieged fortress of Dien Bien Phu, where the decisive battle of the French war in Indochina was fought.
When the stronghold fell to the Vietnamese guerrilla army in May 1954, Schoendoerffer was captured and spent four months in a Pow camp before being repatriated.
- 3/14/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
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