Customer Reviews

A Thousand Months ( Mille mois ) ( Tausend Monate ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

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This film divided critics, some of whom found it slow and/or hard to follow.
But I agreed with those that loved the rich tapestry of life in a small town
in Morocco during Ramadan in 1981.

The film (which is gorgeously shot in a static, presentational style that
recalls Kubrick at times) reminded me of films like `Amarcord' and
`Nashville' - films that capture through multiple story lines the tragedy
and comedy of life at a particular moment in a particular place.

What's so interesting here is that the culture is a foreign one to most westerners
like myself, so there were moments I was lost, but many more where I felt a world
I knew nothing of was being opened up to me, and - as cinema is so great at doing
- the common ground we all share was found.

It does get slow at times, no doubt, and I did have a hard time keeping track some
of the complex familial relationships. But as a `memory film' of growing up under
a repressive regime in a society both modern and feudal it made me laugh, made
me think. and touched my heart.

It's sad that the film doesn't seem to be available in a region 1 release. Films
are a way of opening cultures to one another, and we can use that here in
America as much as the rest of the world can.