Le petit soldat

francisca bacon

there is so much war, most of it, going on in peaceful times. armed conflict is only its climax. i liked karina's matisse-inspired dress.

Wee Hunk

This film seems to confirm Godard's misogyny. The man is full of political ideals which he talks about in great detail. The woman looks at herself in the mirror. They're operatives working for the Left and the Right, who fall in love. Or at least he falls in love with the idea of her, since 'her' is an elusive term. He gets to be action man with guns and shooting and getting tortured. She combs her hair. contd.

Warren Spratley

Even more stunning & revolutionary than BREATHLESS. Political & existential issues have rarely been merged in cinema this powerfully. A quiet, deeply investigative film. Godard again spends much of his time assessing how to render conversational dynamics. Sharp singles, disorienting pans, an aesthetic interest in & pull towards Geneva landscapes, dissonance/atonality. To be on the wrong side of history: despair.

Joe Hackman

Saw this at the NuBev. <3 Karina is beautiful. Subor is a pitch-perfect Godard protagonist, wrestling with his own existential woes as much as the plot-based problems. The film is more straight-forward than some of Godard's other work but it relishes in the little moments. My favorite: Bruno asks Veronika to shake her hair back and forth and pays his friend $50, after betting that he wouldn't fall in love with her.

ramosbarajas

Definitely one of those films that need context in order to be understood. The unpolished look of Breathless worked and made it incredible. Here, it looks bad. In terms of the story, it is sometimes boring, and historical knowledge is important. But it seems as though Godard achieved what he wanted: a film that made people react, as evident by the fact that it was shelved for three years.

Lynch/Fellini

Godard's first political film is revolutionary. It shows a glimpse of what was to come from Godard both in terms of politics and form, as this film remains highly experimental and shows hints of Godard drifting away from story.

msmichel

Classic French cinema. Godard's second filmed feature was a foreshadowing of the challenging political work to come in its tale of a French deserter living in Geneva being manipulated by both sides in the Algerian conflict. Casting is excellent as is the cinematography and scripting that has a story to match the political agenda.

Aaron C Jones

It's stylish and cool and I'm infatuated with Anna Karina, but it's not my favorite by Godard. I appreciate the gutsiness to make a film about the Algerian War, although my favorite French film about it is still "Cléo from 5 to 7." It's funny that this film was banned; the depiction of torture is tame by today's standards. Of course, when you deny torturing your enemies, you don't want this kind of movie to come out.