Tintin
and I
Madman Entertainment
R4 DVD
In
1971, the French-born Numa Sadoul was a young journalist doing a series of
interviews with comic-book artists. Travelling to Brussels, the center of cartoon
art, Sadoul took a chance and knocked on the door of Georges Remi. Georges
Remi, whose nom de plume was Hergé , was the creator of The Adventures of
Tintin which had captivated millions of readers, adult and children, for over
40 years. Amazingly, Remi took to the young journalist and gave him some four
days of undivided attention, producing an series of brutally honest interviews
which gave an unprecedented look at his life, work and the meaning behind the
Tintin series. The interviews, of which 14 hours of original audio material
have been preserved, constitute the backbone of this documentary.
Hergé’s
life was as complex as his art. He was originally a traditionalist Catholic and
under the tutelage of Father Wallez developed Tintin as a means to express
Christian mortality. Wallez was an extreme conservative and it was in his
rightwing newspaper that Tintin came to prominence, indeed for many year Wallez
controlled Hergé’s life even choosing his wife (Wallez’s own secretary). During
the war Hergé worked, albeit with some moral qualms, with the Belgian nazi
newspaper and was blacklisted after the war. However, as time progressed and his
search for meaning increased, he began to question his upbringing and his search
for moral perfection. He left his wife, began to accept his own humanity (warts
and all) and indeed came to embrace modern art, meeting Andy Warhol among
others.
This
fascinating documentary explores the intersection between Hergé’s Tintin and
his life experience. It shows the influence of the world around him and how his
internal states of mind created the themes of Tintin. It is a superbly made
documentary using original taped sequences of the interviews, rare footage,
three dimensional recreations of Tintin cartoon sequences and interviews with
key scholars as well as with his second wife and other pertinent people.
This
is a insightful journey into the world of Tintin and of its author, offering
both a reflection on the creative process and an exploration of how the growth
of an individual is reflected in his art. Along the way we see the evolution of
the modern world through some of its most turbulent periods as reflected in the
unique world of Tintin.
This
DVD includes some over 100 minutes of extras including:
"I,
Tintin" documentary
"The
Secret of the Clear Line" short
Interview
with Michael Serres
Biography
of Hergé
Chronology
of the Adventures of Tintin
Diorama
of the Characters
Hergé
caricatures gallery
Image © 2003
ANGEL PRODUCTION/MOULINSART/PERISCOPE PRODUCTIONS/DUNE/LEAPFROG/RTBF/AVRO