|
|
| 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. |
OUR MUSIC (2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on December 11, 2004
This page was last updated on
December 11, 2004
—Review
—Spiritual Connections
—Blog
with Darrel Manson |
| CREDITS |
| Directed
by
Jean-Luc Godard
Screenplay
by Jean-Luc Godard
Cast
(in credits order)
Sarah Adler .... Judith Lerner
Nade Dieu .... Olga Brodsky
Rony Kramer .... Ramos Garcia
Simon Eine .... Ambassador
Jean-Christophe Bouvet .... C. Maillard
George Aguilar .... Indian
Ferlyn Brass .... Himself
Leticia Gutiérrez .... Indian
Aline Schulmann .... Spanish Translator
Jean-Luc Godard .... Himself
Juan Goytisolo .... Himself
Mahmoud Darwich .... Himself
Jean-Paul Curnier .... Himself
Pierre Bergounioux .... Himself
Gilles Pecqueux .... Himself
Elma Dzanic
Produced
by
Alain Sarde .... producer
Ruth Waldburger .... producer
Cinematography by Julien Hirsch
Film Editing by Jean-Luc Godard
Not Rated
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
|
| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
International
Trailer:
Real
Player, Various |
| POSTER |
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|
| SYNOPSIS
|
| Divided
into three "kingdoms" -- Enfer (Hell), Purgatoire (Purgatory)
and Paradis (Paradise) -- Notre Musique is an indictment of modern
times. |
 Preview
by
DARREL MANSON BLOG
Pastor,
Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts.
His reviews usually include independent and significantly important
film. |
 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."
—Blog
with Darrel Manson
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| —Blog
with Darrel Manson
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