One Paragraph Movie Review: The Life of Emile Zola

Three hundred and twenty-fifth film: The Life of Emile Zola, a mostly true-ish 1937 biopic about the French writer who loved to rattle the cage of the establishment and show off a bit. I’ve never read any Zola and didn’t know anything about him, but this was a bloody great way to eagerly watch a highly fictionalised version of his life, work, friendship with the Impressionists, and successful interference into a case where the French military accused the wrong guy of treason. Paul Muni is brilliant as Zola, especially when he’s off on a bombastic soliloquy, and the pacing is perfect. There’s a whiff of the little guys battling against the powerful, the ability for art to shine light on the truth, and some bonus courtroom drama, so a lot to love and a lot of words in a pleasing order, correctly punctuated. Yep. Three and a half day-old market lobsters out of five.