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.
Stephen Hogan
as Maximillian Robespierre
Ed Stoppard
as Herault
Brian Pettifer
as Couthon
David Andress
as Self - Author 'The Terror'
Martin Hancock
as Collot
Colin Jones
as Self - Author 'The Great Nation'
Jonny Phillips
as Carnot
Slavoj Žižek
as Self - Author - 'In Defence of Lost Causes'
Simon Schama
as Self - Author - 'Citizens'
Marisa Linton
as Self - Author - 'The Politics of Virtue'
Hilary Mantel
as Self - Author - 'A Place of Greater Safety'
Ruth Scurr
as Self - Author 'Fatal Purity'
