Grégoire Polet

The prodigious genesis of a monument of world literature, too often reduced to its popular success, also recounts the tormented conversion of its author, Victor Hugo, to the ideal of social progress.

From Jean Monnet's idea of a transnational European army to the abolition of customs borders, seven years behind the scenes towards the Treaty of Rome. A docu-fiction "embedded" in the great and small histories of Europe.

Samuel is 23 when he arrives in Rwanda as an audiovisual facilitator at the French Cultural Centre in Kigali. Having made this choice to avoid the classic military service, he finds himself without a camera in a country at war. The French army has even set up camp within the Cultural Centre. During the 18 months he spends there, the warning signs accumulate, but Samuel doesn't believe or doesn't want to believe them. What he is told seems impossible to him: France cannot possibly support a regime that commits or encourages such atrocities. It doesn't keep him though from enjoying the country and partying, but doubt creeps in, his certitudes start wavering, and Samuel finally opens his eyes.