Sample Answer:
Your answer should include these points:
First, it can help to understand the context of both pieces. Outside research reveals that both works depict an incident in the Franco-Prussian War right before the Battle of Sedan in 1870. French troops of the "Blue Division" carried out attacks on the Germans from a civilian house until the French ran out of cartridges, or bullets. This event is celebrated in French history even today.
Alphonse de Neuville’s painting Les Dernières Cartouches recalls the detail of the last bullet in its title. It is patriotic, showing the soldiers fighting with their last strength as some of them are injured or dying. But the scene does not reflect the frenzied activity of war, and the soldiers almost look posed.
George Méliès was a French filmmaker. Unlike the painting, his silent film Les Dernières Cartouches concentrates more on the action than the theme of patriotism.
Because it is a film, the action does not look posed. Soldiers keep moving to and fro, collecting bullets, shooting at the enemy, climbing ladders. At one point, a nurse enters the house to care for the wounded. There is more smoke and chaos in the film than in the painting. When a bomb is thrown into the house, the house seems to be falling apart.
While the painting is patriotic, the film is more about the details of the battle itself.
