Ok, I watched this film this morning and I really enjoyed it. I found the film's use of long pauses really refreshing and they naturally added to the pacing of the story. At two hours long, you're not left looking at your watch and hoping that it's nearly over, which is a testament to the director I suppose.
I viewed the film through the eyes of the class struggle: Georges' parents are obviously fairly liberal, especially for the time period, to have given Majid's family jobs on their country estate, and the fact that they were willing to adopt him after their disappearance is to be commended. However, the actions of Georges, even at such a young age, had such life-changing ramifications for Majid and the film, for me at least, was an example of a well off, middle class, liberal elite trying to hide his horrible past and persuading himself and those closest to him that he was really the victim in all this. The French were obviously cnuts in the 60s towards people who were part of their empire (Algerians, Vietnamese, etc) and Georges was a bad bastard towards Majid, but both the state and the individual believe that their thin veneer of respectability exonerates them from all their wrongdoings of the past.
To me, the film was all about chickens coming home to roost and the symbolism of Georges telling Majid to kill the cockerel wasn't lost on me (but maybe it wasn't intentional by the director). The fact that the film ends with Majid's son seemingly up to something nefarious with Georges' son solidifies my interpretation that the sins of the father will befall the son.
I had so much to say and I've maybe gone off on a tangent but I think it's one of those films where the lack of blatant explanations of every plot device means that it's very much open to interpretation and this is mine.
I'll give it a Sir Bobby and kudos to
@Murder on Zidane's Floor for a good selection.
I loved the sections with no dialogue, for the reason I stated.
I suppose I disliked that a cockerel had to die.
Best scene was social services arriving to take Majid to the orphanage - again, a brilliant use of the absence of dialogue, shot from afar, showing the brutality of the state towards a child who had lost his parents and who would be traumatised for the rest of his life.
I think Georges was played brilliantly. He stole the show, even though I thoroughly disliked him.
- Massimo Taibbi
