Fred-Hubner

Vidocq was more than a real human being. A controversial individual ... Master criminologist, founder of the first modern detective agency and credit bureau (Le Bureau des Renseignements); known as a genius of surveillance and disguise, a criminal turned informer; turned police detective; turned the first chief of the Sûreté; inspirational for many great writers of world literature; creator of the card-index as a tool for criminal investigations, the first to use ballistics into police work; the first to officially 'plaster-cast' foot or shoe prints, creator and patent holder of indelible ink and unalterable bond paper ... and after he retired, he wrote his memoires in a book which became a best-seller and helped him stablish his own notoriety as the world's greatest real life detective. Quite amazing hmmm ...?!!! Nevertheless, what Monsieur Pitof presents us is a top of the line fictional action film with a well crafted and throughly detailed screenplay ... Kids will love it ... just as I did ...

The French have an ingrained passion for history ... not just the history of France ... and also a concern towards historic precision ... The film's story takes place when France was witnessing what became known as the 'Revolution of 1830' which would empower Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans, as a revolutionary "King of the French" ... the starting kick to 'The July Monarchy.' Yes, Paris in 19th century was a city in resurgent turmoil. And all this is tightly and seamless mentioned along the plot line. The French passion for precise details.

I loved the extremely detailed scenographic work ... to the point of getting lost in it every now and then. Great photography and adequately applied visual effects. It's a well balanced film aiming to entertain kids and adults alike. There is some graphic violence in it and, given its crisp vivid photographic scenery, I believe some of the very young children might feel uncomfortable having to watch it. Nonetheless, it's a nice thriller for the entire family.

It gets pretty lame close towards the end ... but if I were a kid, and still thrilled by all I had just watched, I wouldn't even notice it ...

I watched this film while in one of my stays in Brazil. The media trumpeting and hyping it as some kind of quintessential and good humoured human study of man and woman relationships. But it was nothing but hyping, the film is one of shallowest films I've ever seen. A few days ago, a Brazilian friend of mine allowed me to lend his DVD of the film ... so, very recently, I watched it twice.

I believe, for basic simple reasons, that the worst element in this film is the script itself.. Actually it's a collage of famous quotations (and who knows what else) concerning the relationship in between man and woman. So yes, my dear reader, the film's entire dialogue smells, and what a terrible stench I had to endure, of academic poseur intellectualism ... And, on top of that, the characters' lines are just unconvincing, to the point of being in need of a heavy language adaptation ... It's a film about love relationships amongst middle-class heterosexual couples ... and the Brazilian middle- class does not talk like that ... besides, the Brazilian middle-class only loves itself in a general mix of contempt and lavish attempts of instrumentation towards the lower classes ... in fact, the film presents a self-portrait of Brazil's middle-class ... better still, how it prefers to paint itself ... no matter how divorced from the way Brazilians really handle their love affairs ... and believe me, Brazilians in general are more creative (most specially the ladies) and sentimental than what the scriptwriter ever cared to even take notice.

Now the main actors. I'm a big fan of Andréa Beltrão ... one of Brazil's natural born funny ladies ... and she's an actress of great talent. The first time I took notice of her skills as a comedian, in a another previous stay in Brazil, she was working in a Brazilian sitcom (sort of) - Armação Ilimitada (which could roughly be translated to 'Scam Unlimited') - playing the role of a reporter working for a newspaper while switching her love preferences in between two adventurous surfers who were buddies and shared the same home. And she was the best thing in that sitcom. But in PDA she's just tied down by the dialogue's obvious artificiality ... in this film, her talents are nothing but a glimpse of her better performances. On the other side, Daniel Dantas has a long history of being a totally untalented actor in a never ending string of Brazilian soap-operas ... and in PDA there he is ... him and his absolute lack of talent. Like in all the soaps he ever worked in, he can't act, he just plays himself ... and does it bluntly I should add.

I gave it a 1 for the effort . And it's definitely a film a would never suggest ... not even for the sake a lightly humoured pastime. Brazil has produced some great films and watching Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso is a total waste of time and money ... rent something else.

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.