another striking noir by Kurosawa, maybe less excellent than High and Low, still the plot is tied with great tension (except the hasty ending). Most notable is the impressive epilogue which is as one character says on screen "the best play in one act"! The way Kurosawa introduce a numerous cast, exposes the premise and introduce the thriller is amazing!

written by Sijie Dai and Nadine Perront
In the 70ies two chinese 19 yold boys from wealthy "reactionary" bourgeoise family are sent in brainwashing rehab camp in the isolated mountains by the maoist cultural revolution. Luo, the son of a dentist who treated a reactionary rebel, brings a mecanic clock in his luggage, and Ma, the son of a doctor, plays violon.
Hard work in the rice fields and a rural illiterate underdeveloped community of humble devout peasants shall bend their mind and convert them to communism.
The clock and the violin are alien objects to the locals, and even the head of the village cannot read. This will disturb and enchant this tiny uneducated world. The little grand-daughter of the old tailor, will fascinate the two boys and give them a bit of fantasy in this prison without bars.
They are under watch and work hard to be able to return in the city as soon as possible. The chief allows them to go watch a propagandist North Korean movie in the town down below, to review it for all the village, and they gladly comply.
Another reeducated boy in a near village is believed to hide banned books, this becomes the quest of the gang. the boys want to educate the little seamstress, and will read for her some forbidden chinese translation of western capitalist novels from Balzac, Flaubert, Dostoievsky and other reactionary chinese poet.
She will love Balzac and these books will change her life for ever.
This movie could be awesome, we can see the oppression under Mao, the fanatism of the rural chinese population, and the influence of western culture on educated students that helps them to survive and hope. Unfortunately the atmosphere is far too gentle and peaceful like a dream tale.
The western-influenced narration and screen codes destroy this pictural touch I love so much in chinese cinematography. There are oversignificant shots, narrative cues, typicaly american setups and new wave love triangle.
The result is a western movie structure on asian location with asian actors. Personaly that is not what I expect when I go and watch an asian movie. the asian cinema should cultivate this soulful, slow paced spiritual mystery, this edonist craft of pictures that we envy them.

a witty comedy around marriage (again!) in a multigenerational home, hosting the 2 parents, the son doctor married with 2 sons, and a 28 yold daughter unmarried, good friend with her sister-in-law and making good money. the "family council" wants to force the marriage before it's too late, but she is against marriage and prefers to stay independant and wait for true love.
in a group of 4 bestfriends, split between 2 newly married women with dependance issues, and 2 independant unmarried girls, both defend their opinions and criticize the others. the 2 young grandsons are rebels and bad mannered, especially with the old deaf uncle (hilarious). her boss, her bestfriend, her brother, and her mother will push an interesting proposal with good fortune and great family. Against all expectations, she decides in a wink to marry a doctor, colleague of her brother, who happens to be a widow, father of a little girl. this decision taken in independance, against all family rules, make the parents and the elder brother angry and suspicious.
beautiful depiction of many sides of a family.

An 24 yold girl refrains to marry to stay with her father (widow) and take care of him. but he worries about her and wishes her to beguin her life and find a good husband, his sister will be an enthousiast matchmaker. she is very old-fashionned and find disgusting when widow men re-marry. She's devastated when she learns her father plans to re-marry in order to free her care duties and let her marry. Father and Daughter will make one last trip to Kyoto before the marriage...
featuring a delightful sequence with a performance of the famous traditional japanese theatre No

a B&W propagandist documentary Epstein did for the union society of building trades.
the first part is a fictionous dialogue of 2 guys working on the scafoldings of the greatest and first gothic cathedral in Chartres. one is tell to the second the history of builders like them, who are artists of their own, since the construction of castles and cathedrals. great shots of stone work, and views of monuments through the history of France : the palace of Versailles, Le Louvres, Castles along the river La Loire, Napoleonic monuments, urbanism of Paris by Haussman, Garnier's Opéra, the steelwork bridges and factories, the universal exhibitions, and notably the 1889 one when the Eiffel tower was built, the modern style era, the invention of armed concrete...
then we get news reel from the 30ies, with priceless views of Paris that changed a lot since.
the second part is just boring unionist propaganda (communist) with stats and graphics, to boost the construction economy that suffers from depression, unemployment and shows how so many people and lives depend on the welll being of constructions, which brings comfort and healthier environment to the people.
there is a disturbing (repeated) reversed shot of a nazi flag, and a communist statue at the 1938 universal exhibition in Paris... that ends this (political) documentary.

Looks like it makes a valuable factoid necessary to fully understand what is going on and what's the stake in the romanticized film. Even I couldn't grasp the meaning of each scenes, first because this war is not my generation, but also because it is still a taboo in France today. In fact, the relationship with Algeria was only recently reconnected politely a couple years ago by president Chirac, who publicaly apologized for the nasty war, and urged the current president of Algeria to forgive the Arkis (pro-France algerians who fought against the terrorists), who are still banned and wanted, exiled in France. The situation is very complex, as you noted, an history dating back from a 1830 colony! The colonial conquest is far more spectacular and bloody than the late independance war of the 20th century... and could easily be compared to the eradication of indians in America, same methods, same death rate.
The War of Independance is not properly represented by the film throught this one battle of Algiers either, which you agree in your review. That's the reason why I don't understand the praise it gets as THE best political filmic message... The "moral" of the film is so well balanced (every action being justified by the horror of the enemy), it takes little to no spin control to make the film either pro-algerian or pro-french. Even if in reality both sides were nasty, and like you point out, broken down in multiple contradictory uncontrolable factions, this is wrong to end the film that way, with intertitles to summarizes the following decade of bloody squirmishes to gain independance in a sentence or two...
Since the film is made by an italian, outsider, the events could have been more realistic and the accusations more incisive more assertive against the horrors of torture, summary executions, war crimes, guerilla against civilians, and even massacres of their own citizens.
The mechanism of terrorism as a means to justify a cause is equaly well depicted in Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday (2002), where kids join the IRA after a peaceful protest was rounded up by the british special forces in Londonderry, and the horrors of torture in Rithy Panh's S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine (2003) where 2 survivors of the nazi-like concentration camps confront incredulous militia vets. In my opinion S21 is THE political film to enshrine and show around for posterity!
The release of this criterion DVD is most welcomed in pre-election time for USA audience ;) (but I won't get into politics and the overestimations of Gulf War 2, which seems to be well covered by th interviews you mention). How ironic to note the film was ressurected by the Pentagon in 2003, beguinning its world tour. Banned in France in 1965, Battle of Algiers was released in 1975 but immediately withdrawn because of the emotional shock and political incorrectness, as use of torture was denied by the government until the late 90ies... When it was screened in Cannes this year, the film had almost never been seen in France for 40 years!!! And France dares to lecture around about freedom of expression and liberties... How could a country who covered its generals for the war crimes they commited, ask today the USA to join the International Court of Justice in La Hague?
Anyway it's a good thing that the french population admited its mistakes, with the controversial books published by the retired generals published recently (mentionned in your review), and that the film can be now seen and discussed openly for a public mea culpa.

Alongside, other films have re-surfaced and were projected in combination with Battle of Algiers.

• Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972/René Vautier) Fiction about the military morale of anti-war drafties on the ground.
• Le Joli Mai (1963/Chris Marker) DOC almost 3 hours of street interviews about the public opinion on the war as it reaches a definite end.
• Muriel (1963/Alain Resnais) fiction with a young protagonist haunted by the horrors of vain torture.
• La Question (1977/Laurent Heynemann) fiction about a FLN leader tortured in 1957 during monthes.
• R.A.S. (1973/Yves Boisset) fiction about young anti-war students drafted and sent in a disciplinary camp in occupied Algeria, to face with hiding out terrorists and be forced to kill once. The moto of the communist activist is to refuse to fire, as the sloppy slope into escalation of violence.
• Les Oliviers de la Justice (1962/James Blue)

a quite original black and white french classic featuring the charismatic Gérard Philipe : a depressed piano teacher oppressed by a noisy soundtrack (car engine, street construction, drunkard laughters...) feels down and escapes reality in his dreams, where he goes back in time to find a romantic world where music overwhelmed the vulgar technology. a funky journey in the dreams of a deceived musician with greed for fame. He travels back in key moments of the french history each time the same eldest character comes up and say "What a terriple era, it was so much better in my youth...". From the 50ies in a country town where he lives, he visits the end of XIXth century when the Opera was a must, then the Battle of algier in the 1830'ies idealised french colony, then the french revolution, the Musketeers, and even the flintstones. In each age he meets a new woman who admires him for his musical talent, or is it the same woman?... and runs away from their husband, rivals, brothers, revolutionaries who chase him around in a burlesque way.
Somptuous whitewashed photography, and seemless panning from dream to reality. Grand final with a continuous chase in a jeep through all sets, from prehistory to the 50ies' reality, involving a surrealist image of a horse riding backward!

finally a cartoon with personality and real hand-drawn strokes! animation is amazing too (sometime assisted by 3D traced over) no dialog but we understand everything, and never feel bored. the music and sound effects bring the necessary entertainment.
excellent openning sequence with the famous musical stars like Fred Astair, Joséphine Baker and Les Triplettes de Belleville. this is a bizarre story setting back in the post WW2 France, an orphan, bicycle fanatic, and his dog, raised by his taciturn yet caring grandmother, and after loosing the famous "Tour De France", he gets involved in a macabre traffic organised by the french wine mafia in NYC. very funny scenes! with a lot of cinema references.Also the almost lack of dialogs all throughout is to be noted, as the entire storyline is told by images and face expressions without us realizing the characters never talk. this makes it a universal language to the eye.
well Belleville is really NewYork. the people are walking cliché: american = obese. french = drunkards (the wine mafia) or eating frogs. even the eledry are stereotypes.actually you can notice enormous women with tiny little husbands coming out of limos who go to the Triplettes show. that is a reference to a famous between war french caricaturist named Albert Dubout, cynic, grotesque or erotic.
don't forget the funky music, and the "handdrawn pencil strokes" style images (combined with scarce 3D-CGI helpers that gives a real spacial dimension)
the black and white openning scene with Fred Astair and Josephine Baker stage performances which is as much an hommage to classic musicals as it is to early Disney animation. like you said there are a lot of cinema references both french and american, and a never ending wink to all this cartoon culture.
the story takes place between a post war France where the General DeGaulle promote the famous cycling contest "Le Tour De France", and a nostalgic NewYork named "Belleville" (which happens to be a very popular quarter in Paris, like Harlem could be)

debut movie of the french stand up comedian, depicting all his universe of his speed crazy clueless cruel character, a retard orphan thrown out of the orphanage at 30 yold, with a bunch of money, in a real world he doesnt understand. his quest to find his (hysterical) parents involves canary bird gobbling, shovel or iron slaps, homevideo sickness, sex on a piano or in a power generator and a bloody hostage. only cult trash scenes! (Dupontel is Monica Bellucci's ex b/f in "Irreversible")

a beautiful story of a boy who finds out he was adopted in a traditional village where the 5 old ladies organized the ceremony as Godmothers to give the son of a large family to a sterile couple. Gorgeous photography and scenes of kids playing in the mud, hunting wild honey, stealing eggs... in the middle of the poor village agricultural daily labor.

The fictionous biopic of Fredrich 'Fritz' Nietsche, between Berlin, Venice and Leipzig at the end of the 19th century. Impersonated by Erland Josephson, with Dominique Sanda (who stars in Une Femme Douce, and The Garden of the Fizi-Contini) as his Super-Human woman, partner in a ménage-à-trois with Paul Rée. Srtange homoerotic-orgiac atmosphere akind to Russell's Gothic. A few beautiful shots, but overall rather average. Josephson pulls out hte best performance.

Opposition of the old conservative Russia and the younger generation supporting the communist revolution, in the countryside, at the beguining of the XXth century. A revolutionary son is killed by his father and fires up a civil war in the village. Film destroyed during WW2, reconstitued by a slideshow of film stills according to Eisenstein's storyboard. Even without the motion, Eduard Tisse's photography is magnificent.

very Hitchcockian murder case. medium development of most characters. the cops are all stereotypes of their own, with the untouchable snow-white syndicate boss who owns the town and run for the next election
the investigation suspens is largely spoiled by most of the clues revealed upfront. but the good cop gives a decent stand against evil in a good moral fashion. and all the bad guys are limp! Vince Stone was no way close to the Tony Camonte of Hawks' Scarface...
2 characters stand out for strong personality but unfortunately forgotten by the script: Katie Bannion (Jocelyn Brando) and Debby Marsh (Gloria Grahame)

a funny story, with clever elements and good characters, but with a certain lack of real dramatization. the story is too linear and the actors used separatly without interactions. it could have been great to develop each character in their behavior, outside of visual repetitive hints.
Nicole Kidman is the one of Dogville, specificaly the first part like a helpless wounded bird.
and i like the participation of 2 french actors (Cassel and Kassovitz) in russian speaking roles unfortunately their characters are not too deep and subtle...

2 men, like many chinese men, left their family to go up in the mountains and work in the coal mines. but they want more than the miserable wage... their profitable act of cunning is to drag unexperimented and desperate men down underground, under false identity, and kill them in a setup accident to bribe the mine owner with the threat of security inspections ensuing a police investigation.
the pace if slow, stuck to the daily life of these humble people, between the mine hardwork, the workers social life: making food, sleeping in the cold, drinking, prostitutes... almost like a documentary, with a mamet-like manipulation plot.

Silver Berlin Bear 2003

Contemplative journey in the thai forest, dealing with illness, family dysfunctionment, illegal immigration, sexual desir, and carpe diem love. Most creative cinematography.

Unconventional western, an indian western, based on chamanism and spirits of nature. actualy the classic western storyline pull down this haunting spiritual experience... the love story introduced by the Juliette Lewis character seems out of place, and anti-climactic. but i guess it's faithful to the graphic novel style (Jean 'Moebius' Giraud). the framing is very cartoonesque, playing on extreme close up and graphic compositions.
the most intense part is of course the CGI transe trip showing a reptile bestiary of mythologic creatures, crawling, flying, spiraling. (Matrix is dated already! ) this is visualy amazing.
Jan Kounen plays a non-speaking cameo appearance under the name of Billy
the original version is mostly in english with some dialogues in french (cajun from New Orleans), so it should get an american release sooner.

this film was projected with a short silent film from 1929 showing accelerated vegetal growth and moves through the day, sensible to sunlight. which was interesting to have in mind when looking at the backward tricks in Ferrara's movie to show the aliens propagation.
i liked the idea of the film, the opposition of vegetal to humankind, group to individual is a deep and rich subject of sci-Fi. also the build up was quite well exposed and paced, with great attention to atmospherical photography... unfortunately all the development of the alien invasion is quite hollow, repeating over and over the same situation, with the same outcome. the good original idea becomes redundant and annoying halfway through, and the ending has no impact no grandeur. in this regard the film compares quite well with the underachieved attempt at horror zombie flick of Boyle in 28 Days later...
i havent seen Don Siegel's version from 1956, i'd like to hear some feedback from people who saw both.