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The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 2/16, 3/22

Zola
2/16: The Daniel Day-Lewis of his time, Paul Muni was one of the greatest actors ever lived.

He starred in only twenty-three films before retiring early due to health problems. When Paul Muni played a character, he became the character, having done exactly that for The Life of Emile Zola.

The Dreyfus affair is the most notorious scandal in France history which stained its credibility forever. Émile Zola was the hero of the case, putting his reputation on the line by questioning French officials' handling of the case in order to save the military's face. Alfred Dreyfus was chosen as the fall guy mainly because he was, which is unfortunately not mentioned in the film, a Jewish.

Naturally, the story is powerful. As a result, The Life of Emile Zola was selected Best Picture winner of 1938. Joseph Schildkraut won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar by playing Alfred Dreyfus. But it's Paul Muni, although nominated for Best Actor, who stole the show. The Life of Emile Zola is the first film ever to receive at least ten nominations, winning third for Best Adapted Screenplay.

All in all, The Life of Emile Zola is one of the all-time great classics with a moving story and a terrific Paul Muni performance.

3/22: Thanks to Paul Muni, The Life of Emile Zola is a powerful film about the Dreyfus affair that permanently stained France's national honor.

The country made it worse by aiding and abetting Germans during the Holocaust which saw the death of roughly 75,000 French Jews. Unfortunately, the film doesn't touch antisemitism that much. It's actually the reason why the scandal started. Émile Zola put his reputation on the line by publishing his opinion in the newspaper L'Aurore: "J'Accuse...!"

All in all, bolstered by his courtroom speech, Paul Muni should've won Best Actor Oscar for The Life of Emile Zola.