LE PÈLÉ

Since 1935, inspired by the Catholic writer/lyricist/essayist and victim of World War One, Charles Péguy, students (at first from the Sorbonne) have set off on a pilgrimage towards the cathedral in Chartres. The journey takes about two to three days, Moritz de Hadeln’s documentary of the pilgrimage, called Le Pèlé for short, lasts roughly an hour. Four crews followed the groups – there are many ways leading to Chartres – on their journey through the countryside. In 1935 there were just a few of them, by the 1960s about 10,000 took part. Most of them are believers, some might be described as intellectual Catholics; a few atheists try to be subversive by joining. There is something about these masses of people, moving through the landscape, that is contrary to their times. This is not how we imagine the 1960s: students marching with waving pennants and heraldic banners on the way to God – and if not God, then at least a more serious version of themselves. The images are brittle and strict; the commentary by Walter Marti remains dry. After Le Pèlé we know: the debut director de Hadeln could have become a great filmmaker.