User Reviews

Whether or not you like this movie will basically boil down to how you enjoy movies -- specifically, whether you're able to stomach cheesy movies in order to share a knowing chuckle with your friends. Oh yeah... also whether you're knowledgeable about sectionalism and Marxist theory.

You don't need a ton of knowledge; a passing familiarity with Marx and a vague awareness of world events (which is all I have) will do. It also helps to have seen at least one movie from this genre (classic over-the-top martial arts). But nevermind you. let's talk about the movie.

Can Dialectics Break Bricks? is a hokey Japanese karate movie dubbed over with a sly smile by a group of French sectionalists (I believe that's what they called themselves) and transmogrified into an epic tale of the struggle of the proletariat against the evil bureaucratic bourgeoisie. This is every bit as quirky and strange as it sounds. The randomness and slight surrealism of the B-movie are exaggerated by the bizarre and totally inappropriate narrative about dialectical materialism and references to Castro. It's, simply put, outrageous.

The movie was only dubbed, so during stretches without dialogue you will become (read: I got) very bored very quickly. I also felt it went on a little long. These objections aside, the movie has a dashing hero, a spirited heroine, and an inspiring crusade against evil. If you're willing to put on your silly hats and go with the joke, this movie can be a lot of fun.

"Please forgive her for being a Marxist, she just doesn't know better." was not the line in the film. the overdubbed story was that the little boy rejected the little girl for retaining her illusions about Castro. the guy then goes to the (now crying) little girl and tells her she shouldn't keep her illusions about Castro.

see it with a good translation....if you liked Woody Allens' 'What's Up Tiger Lilly', Dialectics is much funnier. though the jokes mostly are in line with leftists disillusionment with state socialism, if one isn't familiar with that line of thinking the jokes will seem very obscure....there definitely should be more 'detourned' films of this manner.

Yes, dialectics can break bricks, if they are integral to a radical subjectivity. Otherwise, no...that is, if dialectics remains in the realm of abstraction, then NO, dialectics cannot break bricks.

BTW, I have a DVD copy of this film which is translated correctly. And indeed, the boy child, revolutionary martial artist does reject the girl who is following him because she is still enamoured of Castroism.

There are many enemies of radical subjectivity: capitalists, landlords, bureaucrats, priests, in short, ruling class elements and their ideologies. Reified thinking/reversal of the subject-object relationship is something to be shunned. Thus, the rejection of the girl who is still hopelessly tied to yet another bureaucratic ideology.

In "Can Dialectics Break Bricks" we have two fundamentally opposed forces at work: the people who serve the bosses and vamp on the proles and the proles themselves who stand up to the bosses and their hired serviles. The radical subjectivity of the proles doesn't need the dead hand of an ideology to motivate them to action. No, these proles are acting for themselves; they are acting as a class for itself; they've said good-bye to dead time. And they won't be happy until the last bureaucrat (even ones claiming to be 'communists') is hung by the guts of the last capitalist. There's no room for manipulators of and apologists for wage-labour when being confronted by class conscious workers who want EVERYTHING. Nope, no way. There will be no peace between these two classes until classes themselves are abolished. As hard as the bureaucrats in this film try to co:opt these class conscious martial artists with promises of crumbs and hierarchical power, the proles refuse. When offered the job of foreman, one of the radical proles spits saying, "I don't want to be a petty boss."

This film is an example of "detournment", a form of Situationist intervention in the society of the spectacle which involves taking film, advertising or really any piece of standard ruling class media and turning it into its opposite, a work of liberation against usual ideological domination. What's used here is a standard martial arts movie with all its gratuitous, relatively content-less violence. And it works! What is originally meant to be taken seriously becomes a satire, a filmic bullet in the heart of the sadistic domination of the ruling ideas of the era, including those spouted by "official" left-wing critics e.g. Foucault as ideology gets a slap in the face, along with the landlords, capitalists and Marxist-Leninist bureaucrats and dominators in general.

Get your kicks: see "Can Dialectics Break Bricks"!

French wit at it's finest is all there really is to say. The universal social struggle between the proletariat and abusive bureaucratic command is elegantly adapted to the setting of a 1950's kung-fu flick. The dense anarchist dialogue leading the vintage visual imagery raises a couple of questions: "Are the French really 'that' clever?' and "What the hell was the original film about, anyway?" A film hijacked, re-scored, and redefined by an outrageous blend of humorous and intellectual banter is by all means a whole new creation, and in this particular case, a genuinely successful venture. As the rich, comical narrative rips through your gut with the fine blade of a kitana, the visual then steps in, well equipped with an arsenal of fight scenes, to remind you that you are watching an authentic cheesy kung-fu film after all....................enjoy.

I had the amazing opportunity to view this film at a university theatre at UC Berkeley where it had been subtitled by a student, which makes me wonder how accessible this film actually is, especially with a translation present. In any event, if you ever have the opportunity to see this masterpiece by the French situationists, you should definitely see it.

The story line is simple: a classic kung-fu movie has simply had the entire dialogue changed to represent the epic battle between the proletariats and the bureaucracy, with a martial arts school as the utopian commune. That idea alone is comic genius, and as if the idea wasn't funny enough, the writing is hilarious. For example, when a little girl runs away from her little boy friend, one of his friends comforts him and says something to the effect of, "Please forgive her for being a Marxist, she just doesn't know better."

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and it was definitely unique, but I also really think you would only enjoy it if you enjoy political satire and know a decent amount about different political viewpoints (and hopefully socialist history). I know a fair amount about these things, and half the jokes were still lost on me. In any event, this is an excellent intellectual comedy and I recommend it to anyone who might find it the least bit interesting.

Yes, dialectics can indeed break bricks!