Notre Musique
HJ Links
—Review
—Spiritual Connections
Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most influential figures in French New Wave cinema (a movement in the 1960s.) Now in his 70s, Godard has a new film. Notre Musique is a look at war, but a very different look than we may have seen before.
First, I need to confess that one of the (many) areas of film history I don't know much about is French New Wave. In fact, Notre Musique is the first Godard film I’ve seen. I’d love to be able to compare it with his earlier work?or even note the way New Wave is exemplified in this film?but my ignorance precludes that.
I can say that it fits my idea of New Wave cinema. It is structured in such a way as to brag, “This is IMPORTANT!� To Americans this may come across as pretentious and pompous. It’s not what we are used to in film. It’s not storytelling like American films (and even documentaries) are. It has an air of philosophy about it, but the philosophy isn’t under the surface, as in American films, rather it is all about being philosophical.
If you’re willing to put up with all of that (and let’s be frank, most Americans aren’t), Notre Musique does offer us some very interesting insights into the world we live in?a world of war and terrorism.
The film is structured in three “kingdoms�: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. The first and last are rather short, the Purgatory kingdom makes up the bulk of the film. Hell is about war. It is a collage of brief clips of war. Some documentary war footage, some clips from war movies, war in the twentieth century, war in past ages. The images change quickly and are accompanied by a pounding discordant piano. It is a visceral assault that reminds us of the chaos and utter repulsiveness of war.
The Purgatory section takes place at a literary conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Godard himself plays a key role in this section. He is one of the speakers at the conference, which give him a chance to be on camera making his point. This can be summed up in his idea from film that there is a shot and a counter-shot. Man, woman; facing right, facing left; tears, laughter. He pushes this idea into the Israeli-Palestinian situation. He sees the two sides as shot and counter-shot. Each has come to a place of being defined by relationship to the other.
While this real life section is taking place, there is also a fictional story unfolding, involving an Israeli student at the conference, Olga. She is beginning to see the ways that the two sides are connected. She returns home to Tel Aviv a changed person, and a person seeking change.
The Heaven section is a brief, pastoral scene, with bits of military paraphernalia and personnel included. (This section really is what Americans think of as European film.) It is the aftermath of Olga’s action at home. It is peaceful, but it is also a scene we recognize as death.
Although I think it’s a bit heavy-handed and not especially creative for Godard to go on camera to literally tell us what he wants to tell us, Godard’s discussions of the nature of conflict are worth listening to, especially in a post-9/11 world in which we so readily define the world as “us� and “other.� He reminds us that there is a connectedness between enemies. That connection is part of what makes war so tragic?that we fail to see ourselves in the other.
When Olga begins to identify the connection between herself and Palestinians, her understanding brings her to the point of being willing to sacrifice herself as one of them. Seeing this film a few weeks before Christmas, I am reminded of how God identified with humanity to such an extent that Christ emptied himself (Phil. 2:5-11) to become one of us. For those who are in Christ there is no “other.�
—Review
—Spiritual Connections
Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most influential figures in French New Wave cinema (a movement in the 1960s.) Now in his 70s, Godard has a new film. Notre Musique is a look at war, but a very different look than we may have seen before.
First, I need to confess that one of the (many) areas of film history I don't know much about is French New Wave. In fact, Notre Musique is the first Godard film I’ve seen. I’d love to be able to compare it with his earlier work?or even note the way New Wave is exemplified in this film?but my ignorance precludes that.
I can say that it fits my idea of New Wave cinema. It is structured in such a way as to brag, “This is IMPORTANT!� To Americans this may come across as pretentious and pompous. It’s not what we are used to in film. It’s not storytelling like American films (and even documentaries) are. It has an air of philosophy about it, but the philosophy isn’t under the surface, as in American films, rather it is all about being philosophical.
If you’re willing to put up with all of that (and let’s be frank, most Americans aren’t), Notre Musique does offer us some very interesting insights into the world we live in?a world of war and terrorism.The film is structured in three “kingdoms�: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. The first and last are rather short, the Purgatory kingdom makes up the bulk of the film. Hell is about war. It is a collage of brief clips of war. Some documentary war footage, some clips from war movies, war in the twentieth century, war in past ages. The images change quickly and are accompanied by a pounding discordant piano. It is a visceral assault that reminds us of the chaos and utter repulsiveness of war.
The Purgatory section takes place at a literary conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Godard himself plays a key role in this section. He is one of the speakers at the conference, which give him a chance to be on camera making his point. This can be summed up in his idea from film that there is a shot and a counter-shot. Man, woman; facing right, facing left; tears, laughter. He pushes this idea into the Israeli-Palestinian situation. He sees the two sides as shot and counter-shot. Each has come to a place of being defined by relationship to the other.
While this real life section is taking place, there is also a fictional story unfolding, involving an Israeli student at the conference, Olga. She is beginning to see the ways that the two sides are connected. She returns home to Tel Aviv a changed person, and a person seeking change.
The Heaven section is a brief, pastoral scene, with bits of military paraphernalia and personnel included. (This section really is what Americans think of as European film.) It is the aftermath of Olga’s action at home. It is peaceful, but it is also a scene we recognize as death.Although I think it’s a bit heavy-handed and not especially creative for Godard to go on camera to literally tell us what he wants to tell us, Godard’s discussions of the nature of conflict are worth listening to, especially in a post-9/11 world in which we so readily define the world as “us� and “other.� He reminds us that there is a connectedness between enemies. That connection is part of what makes war so tragic?that we fail to see ourselves in the other.
When Olga begins to identify the connection between herself and Palestinians, her understanding brings her to the point of being willing to sacrifice herself as one of them. Seeing this film a few weeks before Christmas, I am reminded of how God identified with humanity to such an extent that Christ emptied himself (Phil. 2:5-11) to become one of us. For those who are in Christ there is no “other.�
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