The French philosopher, author, and activist Bernard-Henri Lévy, now 73, is known as a crusader who refuses to look away. He documented the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971; examined the 2002 death of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, beheaded by Al-Qaeda; and collaborated on films about the war in former Yugoslavia. The author of many books, his opinions are always fearless and often controversial (he’s defended both Roman Polanski and Dominique Strauss-Kahn), gaining him both friends and foes alike. In Lévy’s latest film, The Will To See, he looks at his own life of autonomous thinking, beginning with the inspiration he took early on from the novelist and statesman André Malraux, and following through to his mature work today. A Q&A session with the man himself—”BHL” as he’s known in France—follows a screening of the movie. Tickets for the talk start at only $12. —E.C.