Avis des critiques

There is a plain, unfussy style to Loach’s war film and it’s enriched even further by the structural decision to weave in several accessible discussions about what is really at stake.

The film has its shortcomings - notably the didactic discussions on, for example, the ideology of collectivism - but Loach handles what is for him an unprecedentedly large canvas with aplomb. The action scenes in particular have a raw, plausible immediacy.

Like other Loach films, Land and Freedom shows some of the complexities of the class struggle, in particular the compromises made by the leaders, often at the expense of those people the organisation is intended to protect.

Hard-edged, of course, but more eloquent and poetic than usual, this is Loach gazing toward the horizon rather than glaring at the cold streets of the downcast.

The great value of Loach and Allen's film lies in its critique of Stalinism from the left. In opposition to nearly all of what is currently written or filmed, Land and Freedom traces the brutality and totalitarianism of the Soviet regime and its various national agents to their antisocialist, antirevolutionary character.

One moment the film is rushing headlong through an electrifying battle sequence, the next you're trapped in Marxist Theory 301. It doesn't work quite as well as perhaps Loach had hoped. Still, Hart is terrific as Loach's protagonist, and Pastor, as David's semi-romantic interest Blanca, is equally riveting. When the film is up and moving, Loach's shots are tight and eclectic; the Spanish countryside has never looked so invigorating, and simultaneously, so sorrowful.

An unsuccessful attempt to meld a traditional movie love story with the politics of the Spanish Civil War.

Scripted by his regular collaborator, Jim Allen, Loach's movie is a visceral, emotional and intellectual experience, and among the finest films of the decade.

Despite a slight windiness in its political discussions, pic’s superb performances, gentle humor, warmth, action sequences and beautifully teased-out love story should make this one of the must-see art movies of the year.