Oh! What a Beautiful Day
Oh, quel beau jour!
Switzerland 1995. 16mm/Beta/VHS, colour, 77 min.
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For a whole year, the film follows 5 candidates of the Salvation Army’s Officers’ School from the time they are assigned and settle down in their respective posts. The Fluckigers, a married couple, are sent to La Neuveville, Switzerland ; the Olekhnowitchs to Rouen, France and Etienne César to the City of Refuge in Paris. Through their experiences, the 5 lieutenants give us an inkling of the social and evangelical work of the Salvation Army in Switzerland, France and Zaire as well as the history of the movement from its beginnings until now. The film helps us also to learn the position of these young Christian officers before questions the Church must face today: growing atheism, the vision of heaven and hell, homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia.
| Director | Jacqueline Veuve |
| Script | Jacqueline Veuve |
| Photography | Axel Brandt, Edwin Horak |
| Sound | Pierre-André Luthy, Michel Casang |
| Editing | Edwige Ochsenbein |
| Music | Armée du Salut |
| Duration | 77 min. |
| Format | 16mm/Beta/VHS, colour |
| Versions | français; ST: english, deutsch |
| Sales DVD/Video | VHS [order |
| Production | Aquarius, JMH, TSR Coproduction: Les Productions JMH, Télévision Suisse Romande |
| World Rights | Les Productions JMH |
| Distribution Switzerland | JMH Distributions SA Rue de la Cassarde 4, Case postale 58 CH-2005 Neuchâtel 5 Tel +41 32 729 00 20 - Fax +412 32 729 00 29 |
| Literature | B.Galland, Une femme de cinéma, 2003, p. 34s. |
Details, texts, documents (in french)
Press review
Today, the Salvation Army fights an even more fearful plague: desertion in the ranks. Some hand in their badges. "After giving all your life, all your heart to a cause, at the least disappointment, you toss it all away..."
Le Nouvelliste, Valais, 2.23.94 (Joël Cerutti)
After seeing this film, I'm sure we will pay them a bit more attention... or maybe more sympathy, because it is sympathy that the film maker feels for them.
Femmes suisses, Geneva, 12.95 (Simone Chapuis-Bischof)