September 11, 2005

Black and White in Color

I watched this film, the first directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud ( who also directed The Name of the Rose and Enemy at the Gates) and winner of the 1977 Best Foreign Film Oscar, on the recommendation of a regular Bloodless Coup reader. I'd never heard of it, and I expect that a lot of other people haven't either. That's a shame. It's both entertaining and enlightening. It tells the tale of a small group of French citizens living in Africa who learn, in 1915, that their country is at war. The film charts their reactions to this news, and shows how it affects their relations with Germans in the region and the region's natives, and also how it changes (or doesn't) their own behavior. There are some classic bits in here on patriotism and priests seeking to convert more believers, and generally, it's a rather light-hearted but still serious appraisal of matters like colonialism and First World/Third World divides.

Posted by armand at September 11, 2005 09:26 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies


Comments

Two points:

"a regular Bloodlesscoup reader": We have these? If you mean "Morris", than say "Morris".

"generally, it's a rather light-hearted but still serious appraisal of matters like colonialism and First World/Third World divides.": This sounds like something somewhat less fun and entertaining than a barrel of drunken monkeys. How can this be "light-hearted"? Or, if this is "light-hearted", what's "morosely depressing" for you?

Posted by: baltar at September 11, 2005 12:09 PM | PERMALINK

Morris isn't our only regular. I know he loves us, but he alone did not take us over 20,000 page views. :)

Posted by: binky at September 11, 2005 12:49 PM | PERMALINK

Our regular reader with some knowledge of French-language cinema (or the one I was referring to) is Ryan.

Well, it's serious in that, you know, people die violently. Priests are, at best, crass. White people oppress and abuse all other people. That said, it is done in a certain type funny style. It's kind of joke-y - mostly because so many of the white people are so ridiculous you can't help but laugh at them. But of course I do sometimes get accused of having an extremely dark sense of humor, so that should be taken into account when evaluating what I consider "comic".

Posted by: Armand at September 11, 2005 02:15 PM | PERMALINK

Really, Armand's assessment of the film is very accurate - its meant to be amusing and satirical, the crass attitudes do give it a dark element in the background, but I think the main purpose of the film is to amuse (which it does easily) while still showing some of the not-so-funny elements of colonialism and nationalism.

Posted by: ryan at September 12, 2005 10:32 AM | PERMALINK
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