Victory or Death and Puy de Fou

How to print the legend after the printing press

The US release of "Victory or Death," a French film about the Vendée massacres, transmits the memory of the French counterrevolution to an American audience. But the film also needs to be understood in light of the theme park that produced it: Puy de Fou.

Though the French theme park is one of the most popular in Europe, it’s almost unknown in the United States. The park and its products deserve a closer look, I argue for Compact magazine:

Following the persecution of the Catholic Church, the execution of King Louis XVI, and the introduction of mass conscription, Catholic royalist peasants in the Vendée region of western France revolted against the republican regime in 1793. At first, the rebellion was successful. Yet the government eventually put it down through scorched-earth tactics, resulting in a death toll of over 200,000, perhaps one third of the population of the region. Because this episode captures the Revolution’s brutality while also putting the counter-revolution on the side of the people, it has remained integral to the self-understanding of the French right. But it remains largely unknown outside of France.

Victory or Death, a 2023 French film newly released in the United States, strives to change that.

You can read the rest at Compact. For paid subscribers who might run into a paywall, a pdf is below.