Reviews

A remarkable piece of documentary, giving a vivid depiction of a country deeply divided within itself (for further evidence, check out some of the comments on IMDb...!). Compares extremely favourably with Oliver Stone's "Comandante" (which is mainly an in-depth examination of Fidel Castro's nostril hairs). I don't know whether Chavez is everything he presents himself as being, or yet another in the long line of populist Latin-American "caudillos". Nor do I know whether he will be able to make good on the huge expectations he has clearly built up among the poor majority of Venezuelans. It's hardly reasonable to expect a film like this to be able to answer such questions - but I've certainly now got a pretty vivid idea of what's at stake, and what it feels like to be caught up in the middle of a coup. Someone says in the film "we're making history", and that's exactly what the film feels like it's capturing. Outstanding stuff.

Some of the footage here is featured in Martin Scorsese's documentary on Italian cinema, but this gives little idea of the tremendous impact of the film as a whole. It focuses on a notorious massacre of over 300 Italian prisoners in reprisal for a partisan attack on the SS in March 1944, and the post-war trial of some of the Italian fascists responsible. Several sequences (the removal of bodies from the Ardeatine caves and the executions by firing squad of the fascists in particular) are gruesome in the extreme, but the film is an essential complement to the picture given in works such as Rossellini's "Paisà" and "Rome, Open City".

As powerful and moving as the best of Ken Loach's recent films (eg Raining Stones, My Name is Joe), this features an outstanding cast of mainly first-time actors. It's scandalous that the film has been given an 18 certificate by the BBFC, solely, it seems, because of strong language, and that people of the same age as the main characters in the film probably won't be able to see it in the cinema.

This outstanding short film quietly evokes half a lifetime as the main character prepares to return home to Morocco after 30 years working in France. Without the aid of big speeches or melodramatic confrontations, the film evokes the tensions, friendships, tenderness and regret which make up the protagonist's existence at this crucial point in his life.

Ever felt your heart sink when you realize the film you are watching is yet another addition to the genre of "trendy Parisians mooch about their mid-life crisis"? Here is the antidote.

In a complete contrast to his blood-curdling "Funny Games" (1997), Austrian director Michael Haneke's latest film is an episodic, teasing look at a set of very believable people living their everyday lives on or near the edge. There is no neat resolution of any of the plot strands, and, like the characters themselves, we have to put in a fair bit of work to make sense of where they are in their lives, and what connects them to the people around them. Juliette Binoche will be deservedly praised for her unglamorous portrayal of an aspiring actress, but this really is a film which adds up to more than its many and varied parts. Other "daring" art-film directors may get more of the limelight by making noisy, gimmicky films, supposedly pushing at this or that boundary of what is "permissible". This much quieter film says more and has more of an impact than most films you're likely to see in a year.