Summary
Two country peasants are recruited to join the army and serve in the war. They are
promised wealth, fulfilment and freedom to do whatever they wish whilst in active service.
In a crusade that takes in most of the world, the two new recruits indulge their passion
for rape, killing and acquiring luxury cars. Yet the victory they have been promised
fails to arrive...
Review
Jean-Luc Godard’s fifth film sees a radical departure from his earlier films and the emergence
of a more politically antagonistic form of cinema. At the same time, Les Carabiniers
makes a strong anti-war statement and attacks the capitalist system in all its forms.
The film is less clearly targeted than Godard’s subsequent political films but its tone
is nonetheless vociferous and angry, although the anger is tempered by Godard’s characteristic
warped humour.
Through a combination
of shocking and outrageously comical scenes, involving attempted rape, firing squads and
pictures of rotting corpses, Godard evokes the grotesqueness and sheer mindless stupidity
of war. However, this is much more than an anti-war film. Godard goes way
beyond that and makes a virulent attack on the capitalist system, no doubt a response
to the American war with Viet-Nam (a subject Godard returns to with greater passion in
La Chinoise). When the two war heroes return to their shack, they present
their women with a suitcase full of postcards of objects they can never possess - a reminder
that the capitalist system promises much yet ultimately delivers nothing of consequence.
As with most of Godard’s
more experimental films, Les Carabiniers aroused more than its fair share of negative
criticism. On its first release, it was hastily withdrawn from cinemas when it failed
to attract audiences, and the critics wrote the film of as a boring, incoherent mass of
muddled concepts.
Although less well structured
and focused than some of Godard’s subsequent films, Les Carabiniers is an intelligent
film with a unique visual style. To create the illusion of an old war film, it is
shot in black and white on grainy film, with numerous inserts of stock footage of real
wars. It is probably this unusual cinematography and the director’s quirky black
humour which gives the film its charm. As ever, Godard is profound and witty at
the same time, managing to deliver a topical statement with breathtaking originality.
© James Travers 2001
For more on Jean-Luc Godard see:
The life of Jean-Luc Godard
Best of the French New Wave
A bout de souffle
Vivre sa vie
Alphaville
Masculin, féminin
Le Mépris
Pierrot le fou
Eloge de l'amour
Buy films by Jean-Luc Godard
More about the French New Wave
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