ABSTRACT
Andre Bazin's work as a film theorist was shaped by his early study and struggle as a person deeply engaged in a search for the meaning of his life. Bazin was the son of a bank clerk and lived in La Rochelle, on the Atlantic coast of France in a simple home beside a stream. He loved books, animals and nature, and from his earliest years he collected rocks, bones, feathers, small plants, lizards and turtles. Bazin served for a while in the French army, but with the Nazi takeover of France in May–June, 1940, Bazin sank into a deep despair, and he spoke openly about the failure of French institutions like the clergy and the press who made accommodations towards Nazi rulers. Bazin's efforts were further hampered by the technology itself. It is difficult in the age of the internet to recall how hard it was to find film prints and a projector to screen films.
