La peste

Too talkative. Crappy acting. Pathetic writing. I could go on for a while... It is a shame that such good material was wasted. The film is clueless, since the makers had no vision. The film even manages to become boring. It also tries too hard to be meaningful and deep, but it just isn't intelligent enough. The photography is OK, though. But that's about the only good thing in this movie. As far as I know the film is only out on DVD in Asia. The DVD can often be found on eBay. Not that I would advise you to buy it, though.

The DVD is 4:3.

Some of the actors deliver performances that are far below their usual standard. This must mean that director Puenzo did a lousy job.

Wow, right from the start this movie is a real downer, not exactly an uplifting film! This is really depressing.

William Hurt, Robert Duvall, Raul Julia, Sandrine Bonnaire and Jean-Marc Barr star in a film dealing with a plague that is infecting a South American city. It sounds interesting, which is why I rented it, along with the great cast.

However, I found this very disappointing, not only because it was so depressing but it's too talky, the photography disappointed me and I think it tries to be a lot "smarter" than it comes across. I can't see a lot of people enjoying this film. Half the cast members don't seem to be into this story, either, especially Duvall who usually gives great performances.

A friend of mine suggested I read the book and forget the movie. I should have taken her advice. At least the author was famous.

imperfect only because mr. hurt takes his traum-welt sleepwalking characterization too far, and mr. puenzo drops the emotional anvil one time too many, this is nevertheless the most artistic political commentary i have seen. i compare it to CLOSETLAND. camus set the novel in his home of algiers, and mr. puenzo reprises with the buenos aires location that is his home. like post-war camus, mr. puenzo has much to say about his country's recently fallen dictatorship. camus would certainly have approved. the timing, in the face of the literal plague of aids, adds to the momentousness of this film.

sandrine bonnaire, robert duvall, and jean-marc barr are essential to the movie, and the sheer pulchritude of buenos aires shows, even though the city is cast as hapless, plague-stricken oran. it is the tragedy of argentina that makes it a perfect oran. and it is the beauty of its capital federal that makes it a perfect setting for camus' triumph of humanity over inhumanity.

the movie is complex, with explicit visual reference to the holocaust, and even a fair treatment of the complicity of the medical doctor (whose responsibility? remember, camus was above all an existentialist author). but the movie is not about a public health disaster, or oran, or the insanity and subsequent tragedy of civil resignation in germany's 1930's. oran could be anywhere at any time, and mr. puenzo has understood camus well on this point.

"La Peste" (The Plague), the film adaptation of the 1947 novel by French existentialist Albert Camus, received poor reviews and was a box office bomb and rightfully so-- except for the presence of French actress (speaking in English) Sandrine Bonnaire, as TV journalist Martine Rambert (in the novel, the character is a male newspaper journalist) Her conversation with Wm.Hurt (as Dr. Riseux), in the doctor's office, must go down as one of the most superb scenes in film history: "Do you have memories? None of us has memories. or hopes. And love needs both, doesn't it?" Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond, Monsieuer Hire, Joan the Maiden, La Ceremonie) answers Camus' (and everyone confronted with despair) philosophical questions from a Female point of view. Yet, as in Sandrine Bonnaire's best works,she is a woman alone in a hostile male environment. La Peste is an "etalage" or showcase for the depth, range and beauty of one of film's greatest actresses: Sandrine Bonnaire.

I'm just going to cut to the chase...a film based on a story written by Albert Camus is going to be far from a crowd pleaser! After all, his absurdist/existentialist works are not enjoyable for the average person. I've never read "The Plague" but have read other novels like "The Stranger" and I did not enjoy them. They are books that college professors enjoy assigning to their poor students but are not the types of stories most folks would choose to read. So, even if "La Peste" is well made (which it isn't), it would not be a film I could like.

The story is set in Oran, Algeria. The city has been closed off by soldiers and no one is allowed to leave until the plague has run its course. The story centers on folks such as a ridiculously cast American (William Hurt) who plays a French doctor, some reporters and some plague victims.

I found the story very detached considering the subject matter...which isn't surprising for Camus. I also thought the sound quality and story were both choppy. All in all, I wish I'd just watched something else as plague stories by absurdist/existentialist authors are pretty awful when it comes to entertainment!