Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution

This film explores the year 1794, during which French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre advanced what is considered the world's first defense of "state terror," asserting that political violence was necessary on the road to virtue. Combining drama, archival footage, and documentary interviews, the film examines Robespierre's time in charge of the Committee of Public Safety, the powerful governing body at the heart of Revolutionary France. The film features commentary from Slavoj Zizek, who contends that terror in the name of virtue can be justified, and Simon Schama, who argues that Robespierre's path leads directly to the gulag and 20th-century concentration camps. The dramatic elements, drawn from original sources, depict the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.