Film director Jean Vigo (1905--1934) had a brief career encompassing only four films, all of which were shot during the beginning of the sound era, but only one of which was full-length. Yet the critical acclimation of the poetic beauty of his work, which came posthumously, has been nearly unanimous.

Vigo was born Jean Bonaventure de Vigo in Paris on April 26, 1905, the son of anarchists Emily Clâro and Miguel Almereyda (real name: Eugêne Bonaventure de Vigo). In the early 1900s Almereyda was arrested numerous times and in 1901, at age 18, was sentenced to a year in prison for the manufacture of a bomb that failed to explode. He served nearly his entire sentence in solitary confinement. In 1904 Almereyda attended an antimilitarist congress in Amsterdam out of which sprang the Association Internationale Antimilitariste (AIA). Almereyda became one of the leaders of the French AIA. As such...