kozaki

How do one feels the rules, the World, the Bible, and love when s-he's mentally disturbed? Reaaly cool! Chara and Asano Tadanobu are awesome and it has incredible cinematography as i think it can be expected from Shunji Iwai. The cinematography enhances the whole stuff, with a crescendo till the very end of the movie. It tells a lot while keeping it low on the words, as it let one feels from the inside point of view thanks to the humor and the great sensibility that are put into it. Overall a charming movie, on a barely easy field :)

This is the second Shunji Iwai movie for me. His films aren't officially available in France, which is a real pain in the *ss.

Even if it won't give one more than previous posts here (like Ruby Liang's very good one) i wanted to share my own point of view. Hope my English is understandable.

Bon voyage is a rhythmic, light but deep presentation of the French unorganized come-down, but also courage and charm. All along in a brilliantly reconstituted 1940 France with many details (from Bordeaux luxurious hotel occupied by Government HQ and attacked by useless high class French, to Parisian coffees near Le Pantheon / rue Mouffetard and 1930s cars) Gérard Depardieu and Yvan Attal give their second roles a brilliant taste;) Isabelle Adjani and Virgnie Ledoyen are very credible in their drastically different roles, and Grégori Derangère makes an bewitching performance:)

Much lighter than average (e.g. American) war times movies, and focused on the civilians, Bon voyage shows a lot of things about french issues (even to a French guy like me), some of them quite deep.

The idea for the War of Lebanon stemmed from the need to document a critical and turbulent period in the history of Lebanon, deeply built into the Middle East and international context. Barring the Palestinian cause, the Lebanese war was the most important issue in Arab politics for almost two decades. Having the cause of Palestine at the heart of the Middle East conflict in addition to the intricacies of Lebanon's internal power struggles made it imperative to document the period.

This is what this 10 episodes documentary attempts to do. And it does very well. It grasp the roots of Lebanon Wars back into the history (1st episode), search & question every internal as well as international actor of the war.

Over 200 tons of equipment, and 20 people took part into the production. In addition to interviews, the program relies heavily on archive material. Still photographs where purchased from international photo agencies such as Gamma, and from Lebanese newspapers. Other historical materials in the program include declassified US State Department documents.

Filming took place in major locations across many countries. Lebanese, Arab, Israeli, American and European commentators and politicians were politely but deeply interviewed as length of their outlook or roles vis-à-vis the war, as well as military & civilian victims.

Actually 10 episodes of 45 minutes each are of crucial need to get in (and understand quite a bit) a region notorious for its political intrigues and conspiracy theories. The program delves into the secret meetings & negotiations that took place at various landmark stages during the war. It must be said that, in my humble opinion, the program producers strove quite hard to maintain a strict policy of objectivity and balance (those having already watched Al Jazeera Satellite Channels may have been impressed on that point before). Hence views from the opposite ends of the political spectrum (from the Communists to the Phalangists including every political & religious Lebanese communities) are represented.

English subtitles are nicely written IMHO.

Highly recommended to anyone curious about this amazingly small, diverse and cute country that Lebanon was --and should stay forever!