or how a simple piece of clothes can lead a man to death
The trousers that were given to the soldier Lucien Bersot (the hero of the movie) were dirty, full of holes and blood-stained. In a way, it epitomizes an allegory of French justice during the First World War. It means the picture of a justice corrupted and destroyed by the Great War. Yves Boisset's television film aims at denouncing the injustice of this dramatic situation.
A television film based on a true story and which is like Stanley Kubrick's war movie, "Paths of glory" (1958), you can consider "le pantalon" as an extension of Boisset's prior television movie, "l'affaire Seznec" (1995). Indeed, the two movies include a lot of common points in their story and directing. Thus, we find a main character, victim of an injustice, merciless representatives of justice that Boisset makes unpleasant and also the recurrent demagogic point of view about the dramatic situation. Nevertheless, Boisset succeeds in bringing a great touch of emotion to his story and in this way, he knows how to gain the spectator's approval. Moreover, his movie becomes very touching by moments.
As it was the case with the "affaire Seznec", and although "le pantalon" is just a modest television movie, it deserves to be watched, expect if you don't like movies which don't include an happy end.
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