In a photo posted on her Instagram account at the beginning of July, Matt Pokora, in a coca sneakers and sport shoes, stands in a straight line, in the back, in front of the ruins of Oradour-Sur-Glane. He carefully listens to his interlocutor, Robert Hébras, the last survivor of the massacre. The singer had met Robert Hébras at the end of 2022, a few months before his death on February 11, 2023.
In comment, the singer announces the beginning of filming a television movie for TF1, titled Prayer, don’t forgetin which he will be the holder.
This fiction tells the secret mission directed by a free French officer, Philippe Gerbier (Matt Pokora), a few days before the landing and the massacre of the 642 people from Oradour, in a context of romance with Marie (Caroline Anglade), his love for youth, who flees from a violent husband with his daughter.
But this television film is not the taste of the inhabitants of the village. The department of Haute-Vienne, the Center for the Memory of Oradour, the commune of Oradour-Sur-Glane and the ANFMOG (National Association of Families of the Martyrs of Oradour-Sur-Glane) thus expressed its “viva concern” in a common press release published on July 4, 2025.
Resistance and romance
“Usually, we are informed of this type of upstream project, but this time, and it is rare enough that we underline, we discover it in the press, regrets Fabrice Escure, president of the memory center of the martyr village, contacted by BFMTV.com. We should have been informed and dialogues with production.” He specifies: “We do not oppose fictions, but we do not want the history of the city to be fictitious.” And he adds: “We are extremely attached to the veracity of the facts.”
However, the story of love and especially intrigue around the resistant in Oradour could damage the memory work done by researchers and institutions for several years. Especially because the latter is already weakened by the supporters of revisionism; These use the argument of the presence of resistance fighters in the town to explain the massacre.
“To avoid any amalgam, we need to illuminate these points with the film team and get more information about its production, to know, for example, if there is a historical advisor or a researcher associated with production,” explains Fabrice Escure. The location of his shooting, scheduled these days in Belgium, also raises questions.
The singer, who has already distinguished himself on the cover of fiction The first forgotten With Muriel Robin in 2019, he said he consulted Robert Hébras and his granddaughter, Agathe. “I was able to go to the martyred town to immerse myself in real history, minute by minute, thanks to Robert and Agathe Hébras, who knew how to take time and find the right words to recover almost 80 years. It was intense and overwhelming,” he said under his publication of Instagram.
In Oradour-Sur-Glane, it is not the image of Matt Pokora that disturbs, but the project itself. “In no case is there a skepticism in the figure of Matt Pokora, only in the genesis of the project,” says Fabrice Escure.
“Crisis cell”
However, the concern of the representatives of Oradour pushed the presidents of the Center for the Memory of Oradour and the Anfmog, as well as the mayor of Oradour, to send a letter to TF1 at the beginning of the week and the Ministry of Culture that calls “the greatest historical surveillance.”
His application did not remain a dead letter: the production was aware of the press release and contacted the representatives of the massacre to schedule an appointment, according to our information. Contacted, TF1 and the various co -producers, including Mediawan to the project maneuver, did not respond to our requests, but a “crisis cell” was established within the production, according to a nearby source.
In the event that the content of the television film is not suitable for local memory institutions, Fabrice Escure does not decide: “We would have to meet again to consider the different options on the table.” TF1 has not yet announced any transmission date.
Source: BFM TV
