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WIND HOWLS

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TRANSLATION: Yes, I was
very confused.

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For several reasons.

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There I was, a 23-year-old student,
in the office of Georges Remi,

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the great cartoonist
better known as Herge.

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I literally walked in off the street
and we hardly knew each other.

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And there we sat for four long days

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speaking of things that changed
my understanding of what he did.

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We talked about the incredible
adventures of Tintin.

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Twenty three books
created over a period of 47 years,

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translated into 58 languages and
published in millions of copies.

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And why?

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Well, like many others,
I've always felt that the books

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were much more than the intent
to entertain children.

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And I found that I was right.

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In Tintin, Herge distilled 50 years
of politics, wars and daily life,

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cars, trains and planes,

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businessmen, dictators, scientists.

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You can trace the history of the 20
century through Tintin's adventures.

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Holy shit!

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You'll find strange things too.

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Paranormal experiences, dreams,

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frightening things,

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things that have to do with
the inner life.

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And what I discovered in talking with
him was that this innocent series

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increasingly became
a personal expression,

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a way to express his own problems

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and, often, his inner crises.

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My name is Numa Sadoul.
I'm an actor, director and writer.

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But in October 1971

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I was a student and went to
Brussels, the rainy Mecca
of the comic book,

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to interview cartoonists
for a small magazine.

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But the undisputed high point
of the trip

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was meeting Herge.

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He was extremely enigmatic.

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When I saw him on television
or in the papers,

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he always seemed very elegant
and charming, but also reserved,...

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as though he made a point of
concealing his own personality.

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I was very curious.
And then I felt a sudden impulse.

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I asked him if he was willing
to do a long, in-depth interview

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which could become a book.

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To my great surprise,
he said, "Yes." Just like that.

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I don't know why.

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So we immediately began
a week of conversations.

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I was totally taken by surprise
that he confided in me that way.

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I was interviewing someone

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and suddenly we were into
psychoanalysis.

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Suddenly, I was psychoanalysing
the man I was supposed to interview.

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It was deeply disturbing.

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He was giving me a role
I could not handle

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because I was too young.

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But I threw myself into it

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with the naivety and blindness
young people have

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and took on the role
of psychiatrist.

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Now the Reverend Wallez
enters the picture.

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I knew absolutely nothing
about Reverend Wallez.

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I had no idea who he was.

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The first time I heard about him
was when Herge mentioned him.

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I had no idea of the influence
this man had on his thoughts,

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his life, his marriage
and his philosophy.

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Wallez was extremely
politically aware.

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As the editor of the Vingtième Siècle,
an ultra-Catholic newspaper,

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he admired Hitler
and Italian fascism.

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He was proud of the picture
of Mussolini in his office.

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This was everywhere in the 1930s.

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There was a bizarre alliance between
the Church and fascism in Belgium.

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Reverend Wallez saw it
as a modern point of view.

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He also had modern thoughts
for his paper.

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He wanted to make a youth section

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that could amuse the kids
and teach them his political ideas.

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Then he discovered Herge,

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who had a junior position
in the advertising department.

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He asked him to create a young hero,
a Catholic reporter,

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who would fight for good
all over the world.

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That's how Tintin was born in 1929.

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This Church-orientated newspaper
which had modest but steady sales

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suddenly found on Thursday

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it had to print I don't know
how many more copies
in order to satisfy demand.

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All because of Tintin.

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It was a brilliant idea.
It was terribly successful.

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Then I realised that Wallez
organised his private life,
quite literally.

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He even assigned his secretary
as his wife.

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Her name was Germaine Kieckens
and was also his faithful disciple.

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At this stage,
the early Tintins are no more than

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the drawing-up of the propaganda
that had been given

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by the boss to Herge

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and the same thing happens
with Tintin In The Congo,

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where Belgian rule is the only way
these big, silly Africans

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can possibly live their lives.

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He didn't know what he was talking
about, he was just peddling a line,

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which everyone thought
was the right line at the time.

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The Blue Lotus is,
if not his only masterpiece,

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his first masterpiece.

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With large Shanghai street scene,
where you have the Chinese banners,

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every one saying something which
has real meaning in Mandarin.

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Everything would have been
supervised by Tchang,

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drawn by him, the letters,

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and the slogans on the wall
with their political message,

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"Down with imperialism",
appropriately, there.

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It was writing about
a very difficult period

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which was Japanese sabre-rattling
and agitation in China

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and this is a very strong
political satire of that.

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It's current affairs,
it's contemporary journalism,

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it's not just a children's book.

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It's terribly significant,
because every adventure after that

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was influenced by the extra trouble
he'd taken over it.

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Dear Tchang,

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I remember the day so well
when you visited my wife and me.

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I can still see and hear you explain
that all things have a soul.

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You spoke of the life in the tree
behind our house.

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BUZZER

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He's speaking about Captain Haddock.

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HADDOCK: Tramps! Terrorists!
Troglodytes!

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Savages!

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Visigoths! Vandals!

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There are only two drawings
he really likes.

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Only two.

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Both in the same style.

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Tintin, is that you?

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Where are you?

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Here!

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Behind the waterfall!

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Behind the waterfall? How?

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Get down here. I'll show you.

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Pass through the waterfall.

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It's only a thin veil of water.

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Oh, my good lad.
Well, if it's necessary.

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Thundering typhoons!

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This is incredible!

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Tintin travelled all over the world.

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There are few continents
Tintin didn't go to.

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So Tintin travelled everywhere,
Herge travelled nowhere.

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He was an armchair traveller

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and he knew about these countries
because of the research.

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He did all the research,
he read like mad.

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He kept everything which might
possibly be of interest

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from newspapers, magazines,
catalogues, from railway timetables.

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The most amazing variety
of materials.

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He would cut out, stick on a
bit of cardboard and he would file.

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He was like a sponge,

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he was able and willing and wanting
to absorb as much information
as he could.

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One of his favourite places was the
Cinquantenaire museum in Brussels.

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The obvious book in this respect
is the one after the Blue Lotus

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which is the Broken Ear, which
takes its cue from a museum piece.

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When he goes abroad, all the
locations you see are real locations

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taken from the cuttings.

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It's almost like his escapism
is taken to the absolute extreme

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and yet he himself
can never go anywhere.

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For decades,
he never leaves his desk.

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It's almost like there's a deal
between him and the abbe,

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him and the paper, whereby within

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this safe, suburban, Catholic,
right-wing world,

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there's this tiny bubble
in which his alter-ego, Tintin,

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can do anything, go anywhere,
right any wrong.

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There we have him talking
of the limits of his childhood

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and how limited he felt, in that
he couldn't break out of it,

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but this was a form of expression,
of him expressing himself,

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the values he had,

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that you should always do good,
you should support the underdog,

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you should resist any unfairness,

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and this is exactly
what Tintin is doing.

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Tintin is fighting for justice.

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If you look at
King Ottokar's Sceptre,

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it is a fairly detailed bit of work

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attacking a country called Borduria,

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which is such a thinly disguised
nazi Germany

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that they even have German planes
in it, and things like that.

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So, you know, he's in
quite a dangerous situation,

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attacking Germany
at the end of the Thirties.

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He had this great freedom
in the Thirties

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and great success,
the two went together.

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But this very cosy setup -
hard work, yes, but very secure -

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of course, was shattered the moment
the Germans occupied Brussels.

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What of Herge? What of Tintin?

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Was it the end of Tintin?
What was going to happen to Herge?

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The Vingtieme Siecle, the paper
which had seen his success,

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was immediately closed down
by the nazis

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because it was a Church paper

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and was therefore considered
to be threatening.

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He then had a job offer
fairly quickly from Le Soir,

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which was Belgium's
leading newspaper,

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and he was asked, "Why don't you
continue Tintin in Le Soir?"

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"We'll create a supplement for
children, call it Le Soir Jeunesse,

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"and Tintin can continue
where he left off."

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Herge thought, "Marvellous!"
It seemed too good to refuse.

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The next thing, the nazis realise
the importance of Le Soir

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and take over control of it.

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So Le Soir continues
but under the control of the nazis.

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So we have the most unfortunate fact
that Tintin is appearing

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underneath reports of the Wehrmacht
victories on the Eastern Front.

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NEWSREEL COMMENTARY:

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HERGE:

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I understood
that the subject was taboo.

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That was the big question
about Herge,

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his views during the war.

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During the war, Herge stayed in
contact with Reverend Wallez

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and he encouraged him
to work for Le Soir.

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You had to support the Germans
in their fight
against Soviet communism.

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But Herge was warned
by several people.

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Brussels, October 16th 1940.

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As a father of a large family,
let me express my sorrow

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at seeing Tintin and Snowy
printed in the new Le Soir.

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From the margins
of your amusing drawings,

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children are being influenced
by the new German heathenism.

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I ask you to reconsider.
If it is possible, back out.

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I apologise for not signing this,
but times are uncertain.

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Go back to Satan!

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To your master!

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Suddenly, all the Tintin stories
change radically,

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they're all about buried treasure,
they're all about meteorites.

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Politics vanishes.

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It's completely neutral,

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there is no statement for or against
the regime he's under.

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I think Tintin gets even better
in the war

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because he goes for
this escapist stuff.

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He has to go for richer storylines

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and he has to come up with
regular characters

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and this is where you get Captain
Haddock, Professor Calculus,

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the Thompson Twins, old characters
who here come into their own.

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This whole cast of characters
comes in

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and Herge himself,

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who had previously written himself
into the stories as Tintin,

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who was Herge's fantasy,
the young man travelling the world,

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righting wrongs -
now, Captain Haddock is Herge.

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Haddock is the recalcitrant,
frankly pissed-off middle-aged man

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who just wishes the world would
go away and leave him be.

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From that point on,

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there's a very different texture
to the Tintin books.

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Tintin and Herge are escaping from
the realities of daily life

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in an occupied country.

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It is the fantastic,
it's the world of dreams

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and it's quite unlike anything
we've come across in Herge before.

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SMASH

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They're the one I remember.

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Here's one where he is
looking through a telescope

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and he sees a really huge spider
and gets really afraid.

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His dog finds out it's just a little
spider who was on the lens.

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But at the end, when they look again,

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the spider is not there any more and
they think it is the end of the world

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and then a lot of strange things
happen, which I don't quite remember.

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Everybody is breaking into
an unnatural sweat,

242
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,400
the rats are coming
out of the sewers,

243
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,680
everybody has come out into
the street to see what's going on,

244
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,920
there's a prophet of doom
calling on everyone to repent,

245
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,000
the day of judgment is at hand,

246
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,560
which is clearly war inspired -
where are things going?

247
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,440
It's a real sense
that the world's gone mad.

248
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,640
Everything is going to be
smashed up,

249
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,040
there's going to be no future.

250
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,120
Look here. What do you see?

251
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,200
It looks like a huge ball of fire.

252
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,200
Yes, a huge ball of fire.

253
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,320
An enormous ball of fire.

254
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,720
It's headed straight towards us
as an incredible speed.

255
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:49,160
Is it coming towards us?

256
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,520
It's not going to hit us, is it?

257
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,680
The ball will collide
with the earth.

258
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,920
Good heavens! That means...

259
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,400
Yes, the end of the world.

260
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,680
When the British tanks rolled into
Brussels in September 1944,

261
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,400
and the Germans were kicked out,

262
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,640
that very night, everybody who had
worked for a paper

263
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:30,720
which had published
under the Germans,

264
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,800
in other words, was considered
to have been a collaborator,

265
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,680
they were all rounded up,
including Herge.

266
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,600
He must have been
totally disoriented.

267
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,680
Everything crumbled.

268
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:49,120
Even Reverend Wallez, who had said
Herge was on the right side,

269
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:53,920
was arrested as a nazi sympathiser
and spent several years in jail.

270
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,040
He suffered tremendously.

271
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,920
There was an edict that
no journalist could work at all

272
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,440
so you weren't allowed to work,
in fact, for a two-year period.

273
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:37,960
I mean, he was in the wilderness.

274
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:31,720
Which sounded great.

275
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:34,720
He'd been saved,
he'd have his own magazine

276
00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:37,520
and he took the opportunity,
he took the chance,

277
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,520
but in practice,
he was no longer his own boss,

278
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:42,960
no longer the boss
of his own destiny.

279
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,040
They owner of Tintin magazine,
Raymond Leblanc,

280
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,040
wanted Herge to produce
two pages a week

281
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:55,640
of very, very dense, carefully
researched colour material.

282
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,760
Every single drawing of a place
had to be from a photograph.

283
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,160
That is a really tall order.

284
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,040
He was expected to churn
material out.

285
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,320
He really was under the thumb.

286
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:25,000
It led to several breakdowns where
he found he just couldn't continue

287
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,760
and escaped - he disappeared,
nobody knew where he was.

288
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,120
He went off to Switzerland

289
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,200
and several weeks later
sent a postcard from Switzerland

290
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,360
saying that's where he was.

291
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,040
Even his wife didn't quite know
what was going on.

292
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,040
Dear Georges,
you clearly have talent.

293
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,760
You educate the children
whilst amusing them.

294
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,440
You teach them right and wrong -

295
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,080
that's not so bad,
you should be happy.

296
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:59,040
Dear Germaine, I'm tired of always
writing the same story.

297
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,960
I'm tired of churning stories out.

298
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,560
I have suffered much since the war.

299
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:08,160
My boy scout spirit
has suffered blows.

300
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:09,960
I see the world differently.

301
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:16,200
Dear Georges, if you won't come home
for my sake,

302
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,080
then come home for Tintin's.

303
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,840
The solution in the end was
that he started his own studio

304
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:35,800
and to have his own studio gave him
a measure of artistic independence.

305
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:42,320
In setting up the studios
in the Avenue Louise I think he felt

306
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:44,960
he was getting away from
commercial pressures

307
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,400
and could continue his work
in peace,

308
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:52,640
where you get talented assistants,
people you know and trust,

309
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:58,320
to do some of the legwork,
some of the basic work and so on,

310
00:36:58,320 --> 00:36:59,920
the time-consuming things.

311
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:03,680
A period of great detail,

312
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,640
where could indulge in his passion
for realism.

313
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,400
His fundamental love and belief
in realism

314
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,720
being the secret
to a good adventure,

315
00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:15,920
it has to be a realistic adventure.

316
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:27,120
In The Calculus Affair, we have the
scenes in Geneva absolutely exact.

317
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:33,400
The road to Nyon is absolutely
as one would find it now.

318
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,840
Every detail is there.

319
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,560
It is hyper-realism.

320
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:46,920
There's a kind of obsession with
getting every last thing right.

321
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,120
That kind of attention to detail
is laudable artistically,

322
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,840
it makes the books brilliant,
but you also have to wonder,

323
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,040
there's almost a sort of mania
to perfection.

324
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,760
I could sense the conflict in him,

325
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:48,080
between the pressure he was under
and the desire to be free.

326
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:55,600
TRANSLATION: All sorts of pressure,
which went right back to the start.

327
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,000
The pressure was so clear
at that moment

328
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,600
that I wanted to ask something
very specific.

329
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,160
I am alone in my house.

330
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:09,360
I suddenly see some children
in the garden playing in the snow.

331
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:13,640
I go out to throw some snowballs
at the children

332
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,080
but they're gone.

333
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,320
Then I see a black cliff in the snow.

334
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:25,240
I go closer and see the entrance
to a tunnel, which I enter.

335
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:30,320
At first it's easy but, the further
I go, the steeper it gets.

336
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:33,880
Finally, I see a light above me,

337
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:35,760
from the dazzling, white sky

338
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,120
and a snow-covered landscape.

339
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,280
I try to crawl up to get out

340
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:52,080
but some iron bars
keep me imprisoned.

341
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,760
Tchang!

342
00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:00,920
Tchang!

343
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:14,840
This page shows the very end of
Coke En Stock, Red Sea Sharks.

344
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:18,680
We see his ideas for the
next...where Tintin's going next,

345
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:22,360
where HE'S going next,
where Herge himself is.

346
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:29,240
We see here, among the various
ideas, is one suggesting Tibet.

347
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,120
This was where
Herge's mind was going.

348
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:38,040
The great snow-capped Himalayas,

349
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,280
all the snow.

350
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:47,040
This was where he was
going to send Tintin.

351
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,320
Why do they end up in Tibet?

352
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,680
Why have they travelled that way?

353
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:56,800
There has to be a reason.

354
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,120
A letter from his old friend Tchang,
who writes that he's coming.

355
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,200
But he doesn't arrive,
he has disappeared.

356
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:15,720
The wreckage of the aeroplane
covered in snow,

357
00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:20,120
snow storms, it's all there,
it's all...

358
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:26,600
the turbulent thoughts which are
going in Herge's mind are expressed.

359
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:32,040
And there's a point
where Tintin is hanging on a rope

360
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:34,720
with Captain Haddock
at the other end

361
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:37,160
and he's about to commit suicide.

362
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,280
His marriage was breaking up
at that point,

363
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:44,240
so there's another strong case
for an analogy there,

364
00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:48,840
that it's better for one of us
to fall down a cliff
and the other one to live

365
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:51,400
than both of us to go to our doom
together.

366
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:23,240
BUZZER

367
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:59,520
TV COMMENTARY: Two stars meet.
Herge, Tintin's creator,

368
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:02,240
and the American painter,
Andy Warhol,

369
00:48:02,240 --> 00:48:06,000
also called the Pope of Pop Art.

370
00:48:06,240 --> 00:48:11,160
Really, I admire your work. You like
comic strips? Oh, yeah, I do.

371
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:13,240
That's pop art also, isn't it?

372
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,440
'Herge was very keen
to be a modern artist,

373
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:22,040
'he always wanted to be an artist.

374
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,640
'He called himself Herge
and not Georges Remi

375
00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:28,960
'because he was saving the name
Georges Remi for the days
when he would have the time.'

376
00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:34,120
And finally, after all those
decades of doing Tintin,

377
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:37,640
he sits down,
he does modern abstract paintings.

378
00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:52,080
He took them down to the curator
of the Art Museum in Brussels

379
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,000
for a verdict

380
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:57,160
and the man was already
a fan of Tintin.

381
00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,280
The result was not good.

382
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:04,120
The man said,
"Don't give up the day job.

383
00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:07,000
"I'm afraid these do not
match up to Tintin."

384
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:44,800
It's not like Lucky Luke, where a
new comic book comes out each year,

385
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:50,360
With Tintin, it took three, four,
five, then six years.

386
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,200
It took longer and longer.

387
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:58,400
It was obvious that he would rather
be doing something else.

388
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,000
Maybe that's why he was pleased
I'd come,

389
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:02,560
so he didn't have to work.

390
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,640
And then it was over.

391
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:09,080
We'd been together for four days

392
00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:10,880
and now he had to work.

393
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,960
The studio was full of work
demanding his attention.

394
00:52:15,720 --> 00:52:18,840
He said that he had to throw me out.

395
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:21,880
We couldn't spend an hour more.

396
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:26,000
It was strange how he clung onto the
transcript of our conversation.

397
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:33,040
It took two or three years
before the script was ready.

398
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:36,320
Herge continued to alter it.

399
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:39,680
He looked at every single sentence,

400
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:43,320
he made alterations and additions,
erasions and deletions.

401
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:45,240
He sent me the changes.

402
00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:49,760
I inserted them and sent them
back to him. He wasn't satisfied.

403
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:55,360
In the space of three years,
he rewrote the text four times.

404
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,320
When he read the text,
he saw that he had said too much.

405
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:05,160
So there's a major difference
between the published text

406
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:08,760
and the conversations
which were recorded on tape.

407
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:17,000
He was far from content.

408
00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:20,560
He had not found peace. Far from it.

409
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:29,400
Herge spent his entire life...

410
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:32,320
looking for wisdom.

411
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:41,480
Brussels, June 10th 1973.

412
00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:45,720
I am writing because
I am looking for a Chinese artist

413
00:53:45,720 --> 00:53:49,000
who is called Tchang Tchong-Jen.

414
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:53,800
I've been trying to find
Mr Tchang Tchong-Jen for years.

415
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:28,320
Time had taken its toll on them.

416
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:32,960
In addition, Herge was very ill
and rather weak at that point.

417
00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:36,320
Given his weakened condition,

418
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:39,520
you have to say that their meeting
was heart-breaking.

419
00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,920
Just heart-breaking.

420
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:56,000
It was a major media event

421
00:54:56,000 --> 00:54:59,760
which was covered on TV,
in the papers and in the press.

422
00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:02,200
He was happy to see Tchang again.

423
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:04,720
But it was also a marketing event.

424
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:29,200
Maybe Herge needed
an idealised friend...

425
00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:35,200
who could supply an unambiguously
positive meaning...

426
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:41,160
to a life that had been shattered
by questions and doubts.

427
00:56:12,360 --> 00:56:16,640
It was very odd to sit and look
at this very modest man.

428
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:21,240
He was shy because
he was celebrated.

429
00:56:21,240 --> 00:56:23,880
He was very ill. It was terrible.

430
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,760
It was a kind of osteomyelofibrosis

431
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:32,880
where the production
of red blood cells stopped.

432
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:39,440
The three years of illness almost
became three years of meditation.

433
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:44,440
He had a certain radiance,

434
00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:46,760
something very bright at that time.

435
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:52,040
I remember that some friends
visited him here

436
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:54,840
and when a friend opened the door,
she said,

437
00:56:54,840 --> 00:56:58,880
"Georges, you look like an angel!"

438
00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:04,040
And there really was something
about him that had changed.

439
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:08,360
He radiated a light.

440
00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:33,560
Everyone spoke of the clarity
he had recovered.

441
00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:38,240
His secretary, his wife,
his most recent employees.

442
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:42,240
Everyone that was around him
during his last days.

443
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:46,880
Was he serene? I'm not so sure.

444
00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:50,840
But he created Tintin.

445
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:57,360
All of his doubt,
his insecurity and his anxiety,

446
00:57:57,360 --> 00:57:59,720
he used all of those elements.

447
00:57:59,720 --> 00:58:04,040
He projected them into his books
and made them rich.

448
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:55,500
Subtitles by Red Bee Media - 2006

449
00:58:55,500 --> 00:58:58,500
E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk