LES CARABINIERS (1963) B/W 77m dir: Jean-Luc Godard

w/Matino Mase, Albert Juross, Jean Brassat, Gérard Poirot, Geneviève Galéa, Catherine Ribeiro

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "Two carabiniers [cavalrymen] (Poirot, Brassat) bring draft papers for Ulysse (Mase) and Michel-Ange ((Juross), two peasants who must leave their wives (Ribeiro and Galéa) to fight for the king. ...

"'This film is a fable, a tale wherein realism serves only to preserve and reinforce the imaginary. And so it is that the actions and events described in this film could take place anywhere ... the characters are placed neither psychologically, nor morally, nor even less sociologically. Everything happens on the animal level and even this is filmed from a vegetable, i.e. Brechtian point of view' (Godard, Introduction to the scenario of Les Carabiniers). 'Everything will be very realistic, in a purely theatrical perspective --- we will see war scenes, commando style, as in [American director Sam] Fuller's films, with some newsreel footage' (Godard).

"When Les Carabiniers opened in Paris in May 1963, critical and public reaction was so antagonistic ('consists of nothing but wretchedly filmed shots, piled up for better or worse, and tied together by faulty continuity') that the film was almost immediately withdrawn. Its commercial career elsewhere was equally disastrous, but it remains one of Godard's most important films. His ability to get under the surface of his theme (war as simply a quest for possessions) is seen best in this film. As Michel Cournot almost grudgingly remarked: 'We are neither attracted nor moved by Godard's film: we are totally exasperated, nauseated, and impatient for it to end ... (It) explodes the misunderstandings and ambiguities that make war films bearable. Stupid by virtue of intelligence, revolting by virtue of honesty, disjointed by a rigorous spirit, Les Carabiniers proves, in the end ... that it is morally impossible to make a successful war film.'"