The biggest problem with this movie is that it comes from those who lost the war, and therefore intellectual giants deem it necessary to join the winners oozing joy about filmmakers being put to jail or executed by militia...which is funny, because if the other party had won the war, these very same highly discerning individuals would probably be wearing toothbrush mustaches and goose-stepping to show those in power how much they care. I watched it because it was advertised as platinum specimen of hatred, but honestly that's not what I've found. Naive parliamentarian who wants what's good (in his opinion), abhors corruption and backstage dealing and criticizes them vehemently is approached by more experienced colleagues who want to 'channel' his impetuousness. So he joins a masonic lodge thinking that those people -after all- want progress as much as he does, but do so adhering to some bizarre protocol. Once enlisted, he discovers all the 'inner circle' is about is covering up one another's dirty deeds, and he's flooded with requests for petty favors. When war rumors spread, he confronts his associates who depict the upcoming war as a picnic...as a result he's assaulted and stabbed by henchmen of the fraternity, while newspapers proceed to assassinate his character claiming the assault arose out of matters of sexual (mis)conduct or drug abuse, and label him a psychopath. The short (40mins) amateurish movie is no hatred artwork at all...or perhaps some think there are no 'inner circles' and backstage deals of that amplitude in politics... Sure, there are flashes of newsstands details financial scandals, hinting that the 'inner circle' is covering up for his members...hardly surprising, especially after thousands of billions 'mysteriously' gone to waste these last months. In 1943 it wasn't considered 'propaganda', but a 'documentary', much like many of today's AAA+ productions. It's short and to the point.
6 Reviews
Mysterious, Perplexing and Dangerous
dolceniente-3877217 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Let me first warn you, this is a work of propaganda. It is meant to instill intrigue, suspicion and fear into what the filmmakers dislike, Freemasonry, republicanism and Jews, while complementing and sympathizing with what the filmmakers do like, fascism. Whether one is receptive to these ideas, is up to the individual. Keeping this in mind is I think necessary to understanding the full context of the film, as it was conceived, produced and released during the height of the worlds deadliest conflict during some of its most lethal years, 1942 and 1943. The driving force behind the production is somewhat of a mystery, as it is a completely French production, yet had the tacit approval, and perhaps guidance, by Vichy France's masters, Nazi Germany. The director, screenwriter and producer of this film were heavily punished by the Fourth Republic government, the latter two escaping with light prison sentences and fines, while the director, Jean Mamy, was executed by firing squad in 1949. The killing was apparently for his pro-German fascistic publications in right wing papers during the war and not for this film, interpret that however you will.
The film itself is quite straight forward, in a somewhat amusingly simple way. Each scene reinforces the previous one, that being Freemasonry is an unrepentant evil undermining nations and that any man with principle and patriotism has the ability see's through their deceit and remain uncorrupted, even while being directly in their mist. This ideal fascistic uncorruptibility is personified by our protagonist, Pierre Avenel, who from the very beginning of the film disparages parliamentarian, capitalism and communism all in one speech. His radical idealism attracts the eye of his fellow deputies, who wish to draw him into the grip of Freemasonry. Through a series of scenes, Avenel undergoes Masonic interviews and rituals, with the filmmakers intending to "expose" to the audience the inner workings of true Masonic conspiracy and its obsession complete secrecy. Avenel's acceptance of Freemasonry is quite quick and his complete devotion to the Masonic cause seemed too abrupt, with his wife continuing to be the only source of anti-Masonry reason in the film, but with only 51 minutes I guess it needs to be a little condensed. The continual lies, conspiracy, bribery and scandals weigh on Avenel, with the 6 February 1934 crisis being one of the many real life events named. Avenel's disgust with the practices of Freemasonry culminate when he hears of his fellow Freemasons plotting a war between France and Germany, the ultimate sin for French fascists. During the meeting he bursts out in an anti-Masonic and pro-German tirade, until he is eventually kicked out. This seals his fate, as the Freemasons, already suspicious of Avenel's loyalty, order some thugs to "silence" him.
Now for my interpretation. Make no mistake, Occult Forces is a well made and acted piece of propaganda film, meant to convey and drive home a very specific message. If one is already acute to these ideas, or even simple interests in conspiracies and secret societies, they will get quite a bit of out of this. The filmmakers attention to detail while on a shoe string budget is commendable, each scene has a purpose and energy that keeps your attention. However in no way is this an entertaining film in any conventional sense, as it's message and history is inherently controversial. I highly recommend it if you wish to study the real or imagined inner workings Freemasonry from a fascist perspective or just simple wish to expand your film making knowledge of fascist cinema. 6.5/10
The film itself is quite straight forward, in a somewhat amusingly simple way. Each scene reinforces the previous one, that being Freemasonry is an unrepentant evil undermining nations and that any man with principle and patriotism has the ability see's through their deceit and remain uncorrupted, even while being directly in their mist. This ideal fascistic uncorruptibility is personified by our protagonist, Pierre Avenel, who from the very beginning of the film disparages parliamentarian, capitalism and communism all in one speech. His radical idealism attracts the eye of his fellow deputies, who wish to draw him into the grip of Freemasonry. Through a series of scenes, Avenel undergoes Masonic interviews and rituals, with the filmmakers intending to "expose" to the audience the inner workings of true Masonic conspiracy and its obsession complete secrecy. Avenel's acceptance of Freemasonry is quite quick and his complete devotion to the Masonic cause seemed too abrupt, with his wife continuing to be the only source of anti-Masonry reason in the film, but with only 51 minutes I guess it needs to be a little condensed. The continual lies, conspiracy, bribery and scandals weigh on Avenel, with the 6 February 1934 crisis being one of the many real life events named. Avenel's disgust with the practices of Freemasonry culminate when he hears of his fellow Freemasons plotting a war between France and Germany, the ultimate sin for French fascists. During the meeting he bursts out in an anti-Masonic and pro-German tirade, until he is eventually kicked out. This seals his fate, as the Freemasons, already suspicious of Avenel's loyalty, order some thugs to "silence" him.
Now for my interpretation. Make no mistake, Occult Forces is a well made and acted piece of propaganda film, meant to convey and drive home a very specific message. If one is already acute to these ideas, or even simple interests in conspiracies and secret societies, they will get quite a bit of out of this. The filmmakers attention to detail while on a shoe string budget is commendable, each scene has a purpose and energy that keeps your attention. However in no way is this an entertaining film in any conventional sense, as it's message and history is inherently controversial. I highly recommend it if you wish to study the real or imagined inner workings Freemasonry from a fascist perspective or just simple wish to expand your film making knowledge of fascist cinema. 6.5/10
More a documentary than a piece of art
fredpsud3 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
The aesthetic is not developed because of low budget. But some scenes like the first one on the parliament and the masonic initiation one still show some pictorial efforts.
I've seen this movie as a french guy who knows history of his country but got poor English (sorry readers).
This film depicts how masons pick young leaders among MP and try to corrupt them.
It has been bashed by post-war intellectuals because screenwriter and director were on the losers' side. But let's look at the background of screenwriter and director : both are repentant seasoned masons (especialy for J. Mamy).
They have their debatable point of view but have credibility on their knowledge. This facts are proved and clearly documented on the french and English wikipedia. If you want to check, please look for Jean Charles Mamy (director) and Jean Marquès-Rivière (screenwriter).
To sum it up, this film is really interesting to watch as long as you keep in mind that people who wrote and directed it were very aware of the subject but far from neutral because of personal grudge against freemasonry. After reasonable researches on the Internet I've not found anybody who can produce facts that contradict the film's point of view (but it might exist), the most frequent argument being only to go straight to the Godwin point.
I've seen this movie as a french guy who knows history of his country but got poor English (sorry readers).
This film depicts how masons pick young leaders among MP and try to corrupt them.
It has been bashed by post-war intellectuals because screenwriter and director were on the losers' side. But let's look at the background of screenwriter and director : both are repentant seasoned masons (especialy for J. Mamy).
They have their debatable point of view but have credibility on their knowledge. This facts are proved and clearly documented on the french and English wikipedia. If you want to check, please look for Jean Charles Mamy (director) and Jean Marquès-Rivière (screenwriter).
To sum it up, this film is really interesting to watch as long as you keep in mind that people who wrote and directed it were very aware of the subject but far from neutral because of personal grudge against freemasonry. After reasonable researches on the Internet I've not found anybody who can produce facts that contradict the film's point of view (but it might exist), the most frequent argument being only to go straight to the Godwin point.
Dangerous Vichy propaganda
chrisgreseque3 June 2001
"Forces occultes" represents Vichy France's most determined effort at nazi propaganda.
The film depicts the rise of a young MP who, to further his career, joins the French Freemasons. He subsequently starts to believe that along with the Jews, they deliberately want to push France into a war against Germany.
This is, of course, pure odious Vichy propaganda...
At the Liberation, screenwriter Jean Marquès-Rivière, producer Robert Muzard and director Paul Riche (real name Jean Mamy) were all severely punished for their overt collabaration with Vichy and the Nazis. On November 25th 1945, Muzard, also the director of the popular magazine "Ciné-Mondial" was condemned to 3 years imprisonment. Jean Marquès-Rivière, who had fled France, was condemned to death, to National degradation (loss civil rights as a French citizen); all his assets were also confiscated. Director, Jean Mamy (a.k.a Paul Riche), a journalist at the French nazi newspaper "Au pilori" and a fierce anti-semite was also condemned to death. He was shot by a firing squad at the Montrouge fortress on March 29th 1949.
The film depicts the rise of a young MP who, to further his career, joins the French Freemasons. He subsequently starts to believe that along with the Jews, they deliberately want to push France into a war against Germany.
This is, of course, pure odious Vichy propaganda...
At the Liberation, screenwriter Jean Marquès-Rivière, producer Robert Muzard and director Paul Riche (real name Jean Mamy) were all severely punished for their overt collabaration with Vichy and the Nazis. On November 25th 1945, Muzard, also the director of the popular magazine "Ciné-Mondial" was condemned to 3 years imprisonment. Jean Marquès-Rivière, who had fled France, was condemned to death, to National degradation (loss civil rights as a French citizen); all his assets were also confiscated. Director, Jean Mamy (a.k.a Paul Riche), a journalist at the French nazi newspaper "Au pilori" and a fierce anti-semite was also condemned to death. He was shot by a firing squad at the Montrouge fortress on March 29th 1949.
Fascist Conspiracy Theory Propaganda
Lichtmesz239 July 2010
If "Forces occultes" really "represents Vichy France's most determined effort at nazi propaganda" as one reviewer claimed, then one cannot really say they put much effort into their propaganda. A mere 45 minutes short, the film is very heavy-handed and all-too-obvious in making its point. Today the movie's in-your-face symbolism (a huge hairy spider with the masonic symbol on its back) comes off as rather campy or silly. How anyone can still regard this as "dangerous" is beyond me.It is simply too dated and too badly done to still be effective.
The hero Pierre Avenel is too clear-cut and cardboard-straight to be a real character, and that also makes it hardly believable why he is joining the Free Masons in the first place or staying with them for so long (at least five years, the movie tells us) if they are not doing any good and being just slimy, pushy characters from the beginning on. How these people could possibly rule the world is explained later, when it is revealed that these are merely the peasants in a far bigger game.
However the film is interesting for historical reasons. Avenel can be seen as a fascist idealist in the vein of Jacques Doriot. In the beginning he fiercely attacks the corruption in the parliament of both the Left and the Right. The parliamentary system is shown as ineffective and old-fashioned - at one satirically exaggerated point the parliamentarians merely utter a "cock-a-doodle-doo" or the mowing of sheep. While parliamentarians debate all day the real powers that be act behind the facade. Left or Right are merely pawns in a game for power, which reflects the fascist claim for being beyond both Left and Right and for overcoming the crisis of parliamentarianism (see Zeev Sternhell's books for that). And there is lot of cleaning up to do: FORCES OCCULTES paints the picture of a vast global conspiracy. A map in the beginning shows that only three fascist countries in the world are liberated from "Jewish-Masonic influence": Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Another crucial ideological point is the claim that the Free Masons (among them many Jews) dragged France into the war against Germany while at the same time undermining the state. This was a way to blame the pre-war elites for the disaster of 1940 and to show the necessity to replace them with fascism (which was not identical with the actual Vichy government).
The most convincing scene is the detailed depiction of a scurrilous Masonic initiation ritual. Director Jean Mamy, executed in 1949 for collaboration himself was a member of the Grand Orient de France from 1931-39, so this may be quite authentic.
The hero Pierre Avenel is too clear-cut and cardboard-straight to be a real character, and that also makes it hardly believable why he is joining the Free Masons in the first place or staying with them for so long (at least five years, the movie tells us) if they are not doing any good and being just slimy, pushy characters from the beginning on. How these people could possibly rule the world is explained later, when it is revealed that these are merely the peasants in a far bigger game.
However the film is interesting for historical reasons. Avenel can be seen as a fascist idealist in the vein of Jacques Doriot. In the beginning he fiercely attacks the corruption in the parliament of both the Left and the Right. The parliamentary system is shown as ineffective and old-fashioned - at one satirically exaggerated point the parliamentarians merely utter a "cock-a-doodle-doo" or the mowing of sheep. While parliamentarians debate all day the real powers that be act behind the facade. Left or Right are merely pawns in a game for power, which reflects the fascist claim for being beyond both Left and Right and for overcoming the crisis of parliamentarianism (see Zeev Sternhell's books for that). And there is lot of cleaning up to do: FORCES OCCULTES paints the picture of a vast global conspiracy. A map in the beginning shows that only three fascist countries in the world are liberated from "Jewish-Masonic influence": Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Another crucial ideological point is the claim that the Free Masons (among them many Jews) dragged France into the war against Germany while at the same time undermining the state. This was a way to blame the pre-war elites for the disaster of 1940 and to show the necessity to replace them with fascism (which was not identical with the actual Vichy government).
The most convincing scene is the detailed depiction of a scurrilous Masonic initiation ritual. Director Jean Mamy, executed in 1949 for collaboration himself was a member of the Grand Orient de France from 1931-39, so this may be quite authentic.
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