L'heure du cochon

Just watched this film again on video (purchased off Ebay), and this film is simply magical.

I love films of all kinds from fantasy - Holes, Chocolat, Batman, through drama and thrillers, but what I love best is the telling of a story, and the way it's phrased. Hour of the Pig is just that, an excellent story developed in layers, that takes its time, because it does a fantastic job of developing the characters, mostly through the dying art of great dialogue, and some of the best British actors around.

Colin Firth and Ian Holm underpin an excellent cast, rich in dialogue, with a fantastic story. And there's the rub, you have to like stories, as there's very little action, just a fascinating twist through medieval France.

Films like this remind me why I go to the cinema which is where I first saw it over 10 years ago. It's a crime this doesn't have a DVD release.

It never goes for less than £10 secondhand, and often tops £15, for a secondhand VIDEO. Come on, whoever owns the rights to this, and get it out on DVD.

I'm surprised this movie is so unknown! From the beginning, prepare to be impressed with the accurate visual detailing of mid fifteenth century France. I was wowed by the costumes, sets, and extras (who appear plucked straight from a period painting). The dialogue can be slightly convoluted at times, and a few of the characterizations felt slightly strained, but these are minor complaints. The movie, besides featuring a great understated performance by Colin Firth, also showcases a talented supporting cast. Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings, is great as the knowledgeable priest. Jim Carter, as Firth's right hand man, is a wonderful and versatile actor (check him out in Downton Abbey). And finally Nicol Williamson as the nobleman, who has many opportunities for over-acting, but instead crafts a believable character and carries off his role with brilliant understatement. The premise, that all the trials presented in the film are based on actual 'crimes', generates much interest in the plot and makes this movie more than worth watching!

I caught this movie after reading an interview in the Washington Post with the writer/director---I *love* movies where the strangest parts are all actually true. I'm very surprised it's not more popular (though it's interesting the video box never even mentions that it's set in Medieval France!). A hidden gem.

This film masterly deals with a very specific moment in the history of Western Christianity. It's not just the Medieval Ages .. since, in a generally accepted timetable, it started circa 450 AD and lasted 'til the rise of the Absolute Monarchies ... it depicts a moment of transition. The already settled upsurging process in which feudal cities would develop as independent political entities under the rule of a central monarchy ... a moment in which France's bourgeoisie starts to position itself as a major political and economical partner/supporter of a highly centralized monarchy in opposition to the decentralized political organization championed by feudal lords. A struggle which would, eventually in future times, determine how law and order should be imposed to society and the consequential encroachment of a national state. So, this film's story happens in the waning of French feudalism as a source of political and economical power. You must never forget that what is shown in this film as the feudal lord's privileges were once, in a then very recent past, the rule ... the French Revolution is still centuries away ... and not a trace yet of the Thirteen Colonies ... but now, that's all history.

Yeah ... yeah, it's a fiction alright ... a fiction loosely based on real legal reports of the Middle Age ... so yes, the things you'll see not just could have happened ... but eventually, and quite oftenly I should add, did actually happen very much in the same fashion exposed in this great film. By now you must be asking yourself ... why in the world is this guy beating around the bush for ?! ... and in my usual high style manner I would answer: Simply because without the previous historical pinpointing you would miss all the possible readings this film has to offer and the much needed gap filling. ... Furthermore, in case you're; yes you my dear reader, a High School student, don't even try to argue or use the info contained in this review in a school debate or essay ... firstly, it might be too specific for the common knowledge of most High School teachers ... and secondly, you obviously lack a yielding background knowledge to support it.

Most reviewers, including high ranking pros, missed the point completely as to what concerns this film ... one of them pros took it has a comedy and simply compared it to Mounty Python And The Holy Grail ... oh c'mon, how unreal can you get ?!!! The Hour Of The Pig does have some 'laughable moments' ... so does Reservoir Dogs ... but most of such moments will be laughed at based on our 21st Century understanding of reality and common sense. In spite the 'laughable moments', it's not a comedy ... it's a thriller. Some other reviewers, pros included, preferred comparing it to The Name Of The Rose. Such comparison is pure fallacy in all senses. I've seen the film and I've read the book ... the great result of erudite and throughout historical research, most specifically as to what concerns past and then still ongoing theological debates and disputes. Jean-Jacques Annaud somehow managed to destroy Umberto Eco's story and turned it into an overrated and underscored whodunit. The Hour Of The Pig is more of a what-the-heck-is-happening-here kind of thriller story ... and as the film unfolds, you'll be shown a very detailed and carefully crafted epoch re-enactment of everyday life in those times.

Basically the plot spirals around the ongoing dispute for the exercise of power (fiefdom versus highly centralized monarchies) staged in the trial of a domestic animal ... ultimately, a struggle for the upper hand in controlling the means, resources and legitimacy to impose fear upon society in general. 'It is the curse of our times ... gentlemen ... not the black death ... but fear ' says Pincheon as if previewing Thomas Hobbes by quite a few years. The Renaissance has been going on for more than a century already. The world was changing but not changed yet ... and such clash would still go on for centuries ahead. Leslie Megahey's competent approach as a director and scriptwriter has acquired for this film a stand alone feature. It's not a hamburger, take it with savoir vivre.

In 15th century France a suave, urban lawyer moves to the country to get a greatly needed change. He is in search of the noble peasant. He has tired of the guiles and wiles of city-folk; he wants nothing more of them. Unfortunately he is almost immediately beset with the wackiness that could only be found in the country. He now has to defend a pig. And against the charge of murder no less. This is a moving story. To see how people who differed were viewed as animals hurts my sensibilities but it wasn't that long ago...