Abbe Pierre: A Century of Devotion (French)

A Film by Frédéric Tellier

Born in Lyon, the fifth of eight Catholic children, Henri Grouès plans to join the monastery, only for WWII to intervene. Learning of the persecution of Jews and patriots, he joins the French Resistance to help those fleeing oppression by the Gestapo, himself forced to use several false identities to avoid capture. As “Abbé Pierre”, by which he will then be known, Henri is exposed to the devastation of war, but also bears witness to the compassion and strength of brotherhood and the liberation of Paris; he emerges from the maelstrom a changed man.

Accompanied by his Resistance ally and confidante Lucie Coutaz, Abbé Pierre is destined to live many lives and face multiple battles: as a revolutionary, a state representative, the founder of the Emmaus network of housing shelters and a national icon, but always answerable to history and his fellow man.