Five million viewers!
Edouard Bergeon did not direct "We peasants", the documentary which hit France 2 on Tuesday 23 February in the evening, but the director of "In the name of the earth" - two million admissions in 2019 - welcomes the success.
Same fight to rehabilitate farmers.
It is no coincidence that Guillaume Canet, who plays the father of the farmer tragically surrounded by debts in his film, is the voice-over of "We peasants".
The actor, who has remained close to the filmmaker and his struggle, sponsors his site CultivonsNous.tv, which collects reports and interviews on the agricultural world.
“Farmers are hurt to be called polluters, poisoners, being accused of animal abuse.
Respecting animals is essential, but let's also respect those who feed us.
I am relieved if we finally go from
agribashing
to
agriloving
”, smiles the filmmaker.
This week was to be held the Agricultural Show: “It's terrible that it does not take place, that had never happened.
According to surveys, 80% of French people like farmers, but there is a lack of knowledge.
The link has been broken.
Today's peasants are often more qualified than those who criticize them… ”recalls Edouard Bergeon.
For him, the success of these films must also "arouse vocations": "Half of the farmers will retire in the next ten years ..."
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José Bové, a very militant peasant, also hails this "renewal" of the agricultural world on the screens: "We have a culture of the rural in France, but which had disappeared, that of Giono's novels, of films between the two. -wars, songs like
La montagne
, by Ferrat, which tells of the exodus of Ardèche peasants and already junk food with hormone-
infused
chicken.
"For him," there is currently a nostalgia and a desire to understand where we come from, which this documentary shows, with very beautiful archive images, even if it is very consensual on the contemporary period. .
No image of green algae ... "According to José Bové, this passion is not a fashion:" The question of food has become central, and suddenly, we are interested in agriculture.
It is a fundamental movement in Europe.
I also just saw an excellent Finnish film on the milk war.
"
"These are modern westerns"
“Love is in the meadow”, the M6 dating show, had already humanized farmers and their loneliness, in an environment marked by one suicide a day.
A film like "Cyril, farmer, 30 years old, 20 cows, milk, butter, debts", by Rodolphe Marconi, released just before confinement, which competes for the Césars, on March 12, in the category of best documentary, offers a very contemporary portrait of a lost but relentless young farmer.
Eric Hannezo, its producer, had smelled “extraordinary emotions” in his story.
“We have organized a lot of screenings and debates.
The audience was very varied, and upset.
One young person said:
This is the story of my grandparents
.
Others wanted to help.
There is clearly the testimony of a world which is disappearing, while it affects everyone.
Myself, I am the great-grandson of farmers.
An oral memory of his harshness has been transmitted to me ”.
The producer also points to the visual beauty of films set in this environment: “They take place in magnificent landscapes with a terrible economic reality.
These are modern westerns ”.
France Télévisions is riding the wave.
From this Saturday afternoon, France 3 will broadcast a new documentary series, "Our lives from here", the first collection of which is called "My rural life".
A co-production with BBC studios France on anonymous heroes, like this Ardèche cow breeder who has to retire and whose sons do not want to take back the family lands.
Or an itinerant grocer in the country hamlets.
“This year, in particular, the relationship with nature and true values has changed,” explains Nathalie Jourdan, the producer.
These people who were considered rednecks have become essential again ”.
We, peasants, kings of audiences.
