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Nino Rocher, Pierre Martial Gaillard, Théo ChazalUser Reviews
Carnage as Poetry in this French WW I DramaGabriel, Bertrand and
Theophile are all friends who join up in the first wave of war fervour
in 1914 and are sent out to fight 'the Bosch'. Gabriel leaves behind his
girlfriend Marguerite, and the film is told mostly through him reading
the letters that he sends to her.
This is played out as the on
screen action unfolds and develops as we are taken through all of the
horrors that he and his comrades have to face. There are also some very
realistic and upsetting hospital scenes and graphic depictions of the
horror of war and the creeping madness that afflicted some of those poor
men.
Now this is like poetry in places as the narration flows
with a breadth of language that has hidden beauty despite being about
some of the most base of things. The period detail and uniforms seemed
to be spot on. They start out in their 19th Century uniforms before they
realised what a mistake that was and moved on to the blue grey with
actual helmets.
There is real filth everywhere and some of the
scenes are devastating, especially one of a bombardment. This though is a
film that some will baulk at as it is not really a 'war film' but I was
transfixed, attracted and repelled in equal measure. It has a run time
of 89 minutes but seemed to last a mere handful. The performances are
universally excellent and this from writer and director Damien Oduol who
brought us the stunningly excellent 'Le Soufflé' and is a supreme
talent in my books. This is cinema at its most alluring, upsetting,
poetic and stunningly brilliant and is one of the reasons I watch World
Cinema – absolutely recommended.
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