About Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution
In 1794, French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre produced the world's first defense of "state terror" - claiming that the road to virtue lay through political violence. This film combines drama, archive and documentary interviews to examine Robespierre's year in charge of the Committee Of Public Safety - the powerful state machine at the heart of Revolutionary France. Contesting Robespierre's legacy is Slavoj Zizek, who argues that terror in the cause of virtue is justifiable, and Simon Schama, who believes the road from Robespierre ran straight to the gulag and the 20th-century concentration camp. The drama, based on original sources, follows the life-and-death politics of the Committee during "Year Two" of the new Republic.
Full Cast of Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution
Stephen Hogan
plays Maximillian Robespierre
Ed Stoppard
plays Herault
Brian Pettifer
plays Couthon
David Andress
plays Self - Author 'The Terror'
Martin Hancock
plays Collot
Colin Jones
plays Self - Author 'The Great Nation'
Jonny Phillips
plays Carnot
Slavoj Žižek
plays Self - Author - 'In Defence of Lost Causes'
Simon Schama
plays Self - Author - 'Citizens'
Marisa Linton
plays Self - Author - 'The Politics of Virtue'
Hilary Mantel
plays Self - Author - 'A Place of Greater Safety'
Ruth Scurr
plays Self - Author 'Fatal Purity'
George Maguire
plays Saint-Just
Jan Pearson
plays Narrator (voice)
Crew of Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution