This is a breathless portrait that spans from his childhood days—when a snowball fight under the snow turned into a massive military campaign—to the turbulent days in Paris when the revolution spilled into the streets. Amid the labyrinth of 18th-century politics shaped in the shadow of the guillotine, the ambitious steps of a military academy cadet gradually lead him toward the empire. Directed by Abel Gance, this historical epic brings the complex atmosphere of the era to the screen with the overwhelming power of black-and-white frames. Spanning from the Toulon front to the dusty roads of Italy, this military and biographical narrative plunges the audience right into the heart of the revolutionary storm.