The Camera

A young priest, Father Leauvin, is sent to the front during World War One in Verdun, France. His faith is shaken, not by war, but by love.
At the steps to his church, Father waves at a charming young lady. He turns and goes in the church where he gathers his things for his voyage to the front. One of his things is a camera, a Tourist Multiple.

He has a passion for taking pictures and this singular hobby drives his bishop, Bishop Manteau, to wonder where Father Leauvin's heart and soul reside, with Christ or with his personal pleasures.
The bishop warns Father to mind his feelings and his faith.

Father Leauvin goes to the front and is given an escort, Sargent Phillipe Bouchard.
Sgt. Bouchard is happy to have Father with him. He's happy because to escort a priest around means that he'll avoid going into no man's land. No man's land is the dead ground that lies between the German trenches and the French trenches. Machine guns, sniper rifles, mortars and heavy artillery have their sights on that void between the enemies.

Father is mortified when the German's attack and carnage spills over onto his cassock; he runs onto no man's land and offers help to a downed soldier. The soldiers leg is a meaty end and Father finds himself lost in the melee; his faith and courage flee.

After the attack, Father regains his strengths. He takes pictures of the wounded, dying and the dead for the sake of other people to know what happens in war. Afterwards, he admires a picture of a woman that he met and ponders life outside his calling.

Therein lies his dilemma. He's unsure whether to keep with his calling to Christ or give into his personal desires.

Dettagli