AUX ARMES CITOYENS !

A documentary film by JÉROME LAMBERT and PHILIPPE PICARD

​

Mandatory for millions of young Frenchmen until 1996, the military service has been for more than a century, one of the pillars of the French Republic. By training its future soldiers, but also by mixing social classes and origins, it was considered as the ultimate step of the

“making of the citizen”.

 

To retrace the history of the military conscription is to tell the passionate and tumultuous relations of the French with their army. How did the citizen-soldier become a link between society and its army? And how did this so powerful link end up breaking up?

 

This historical fresco is a tale of men, that gathers testimonies and archives in order to portray the evolution of the “bidasse” (French slang for the conscription soldier) through generations and pop culture representations. A unique and enlightening perspective of the French history.