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Video length: 3 min
Cinema: “Planet of the Apes”, a long saga that questions humanity
Friday May 3, the “Cult” series looks at the return of “Planet of the Apes”, the new opus of which is showing in cinemas. The saga began with Charlton Heston in 1968, but behind this series by Hollywood lies the novel by a Frenchman, Pierre Boule.
The time of civilization is ending for men, the apes have the power. But in 2024, the hero is called Noah, a young monkey battling a tyrant king. A new opus of The Planet of the Apesit’s an event for fans, starting with the actor who plays King Proximus.
There Planet of the Apes is one of the oldest Hollywood franchises. It all started with a French novel written by Pierre Boule, released in 1963. Hollywood made it a masterpiece, with Charlton Heston as an astronaut who thinks he has failed on another planet dominated by learned apes. The success is such that the sequels follow one another, there will be nine of them.
A political work
If The Planet of the Apes always works, it is because primates have a fascination for man. Great apes share a huge part of our genome. “They don’t have oral language like us”, explains Julie Platel, ethologist at the Thoiry zoopark. So, when they start talking, it speaks to us. “The particularity of The Planet of the Apesit is the fact of having brought the most politics into science fiction”, observes Fabrice Leclerc, film critic at Paris-Match. The latest opus is no exception in exploring the issues of knowledge and power.
