8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing, February 28, 2007
This review is from: La Commune (DVD)
This is one of the most engrossing and challenging and in the end rewarding films I have seen in a very long time. It is well worth the effort and the time to get into it.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great film, but an acquired taste, January 22, 2009
This review is from: La Commune (DVD)
This film is fantastic. It is my all time favourite film - but it is definitely an acquired taste. It's 6hours, black and white, looks like it was filmed in someone's garage and there is lots of dialogue that you have to follow carefully. Well worth the effort!
fascinating representation of a fascinating time in history.
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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A College Seminar Costume Drama that needs patience, February 22, 2007
This review is from: La Commune (DVD)
Fans of Peter Watkin's earlier films, especially his brilliantly directed THE WAR GAME, and the cleverly recreated
faux documentaries, PUNISHMENT PARK and CULLODEN need to pull in their expectations when approaching LA COMMUNE. A lot of time has passed since those earlier triumphs, and there is very little "riveting re-creations of dramatic events to be had"---everyone TALKS about dramatic events, have just participated in them, or are going to --but the recreations take place in a large warehouse-factory,and are nothing like the
exciting moments in the earlier films. And there is an awfully lot of talking and polemic--socialist mindset--that, well, educates. Many of the scenes reminds one of a college seminar with students dressed in costumes airing the issues of the times--and if that sounds exciting to you, this is your baby. For my part, I longed that some of the characters, desperaton and tragic consequences of that brief revolution would be up there on the screen (the rows of coffins famous in photographs, with poetic young intellectuals placed in them comes to mind)...but this is the least "visual" of Watkins films. And there is also lots of filler (no drama, no debate, just meandering around with the camera) which doesn't help move the ideas foward very fast. For excitement, try THE WAR GAME. For visual beauty go to EDVARD MUNCH. But if motley revolutionists expounding endlessly for a doomed cause with a few bursts of passion and exalted oratory are what you crave, get ready to be patient and by all means, embrace LA COMMUNE.
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