TOUS AU LARZAC

How did a group of isolated farmers, clueless about politics, manage to win a fight against the French government’s decision to extend a military camp over their land? In 1971, deep in the French countryside in the Larzac region, 103 families made an oath to unite and defend their land. Yet they did not use weapons to defend themselves, only tractors and sheep. This documentary focuses on the inhabitants’ ten-year-long struggle for justice and freedom. The austere landscape of the Larzac immediately brings to mind images of Westerns.
This film invites us to take a fresh look at the 70’s, which saw an entire generation trying to put into practice the ideas of May 1968 by carrying on a fight that they considered unfinished. I want us to use this story to look at the world we live in. What characterized the conflicts of this period was not, as it has often been said, left wing dogmatism. On the contrary, what characterized the conflicts of this period was freedom of invention and tone, pride, insolence and an unlimited imagination. This ability to invent new means, to defend oneself collectively, fascinates us, as it appears that this is what is missing in our world nowadays. We have to put up with old ways of thinking, media trends, resignation and despondency. That is why the Larzac means something to us, now. (Christian Rouaud)