| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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How life can also prevail from war
by Marla Singer (movies profile)
Jun 16, 2006
33
of
39 people found this review helpful
This movie pictures perfectly how the arrogance of a nation at war could lead its rulers into the ultimate crazyness. But more than this, "A very long Engagement" is a movie about hope and what it could bring to you.
Mathilde's quest represents how life can prevail from the most dramatic events if we really believe in it. It's a movie filled with hope, however, it's also a great representation of what was Europe in general and France in particular after the Great War. A war which had been fought by one Frenchmen among two.
Visually speaking, this movie is absolutely outstanding. Where "Saving Private Ryan" wanted to be realistic, "A very long Engagement" wants to be poetical... but in the end, it seems that Jeunet's movie offers a vision of world war 1 which isn't less close to the reality of it than Spielberg's one. There's no good side and evil side in the Great War, simply generalized madness.
The reconstitution of the beginning of the 20th century is absolutely perfect, and this as much in the characters than in the sceneries of Brittany, Paris, or the battlefields in the Somme. We take a nose dive in that era and it's hard to get out of it after having seen that movie.
I've seen that movie twice. The first one was a great shock, where I've focused mainly on the breath-taking visuals of it. After the second vision, one week later, I've felt the emotions of that movie even stronger.
So, yes, this movie should absolutely be seen by as many people as possible. |
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