socrates_note

I caught this short film at the 19th Foyle Film Festival last year and had wanted to comment on it but they had no official site or IMDb web page. Couple of weeks ago this short resurfaced in the form of a DVD on the desk of a friend and I watched it again. My opinion had not changed - this is a great short. Very cinematic and extremely watchable. There is no doubting that this first time director shows great talent and originality. A cast of unknown actors as is the case with a majority of short films; each of the performances were lovely. I have to give the young actor playing Ryan a special mention because he had me engrossed with his subtle performance. Another talent for the future, I think so. The story was quite original and did not resort to cliché traps and each of the characters was well written. I found the camera work to be beautiful and visual style engaging. The short is beautifully scored with music and songs. It would seem that the filmmaker and producers invested much to give us a great film in just 11 minutes.

I looked forward to this french WW2 film with great anticipation but it did not live up to my expectations and it certainly did not live up to the standard of a great war movie. Telling the story of the conscription of men from the North African French colonies, we follow the story of four men who become French soldiers all for very different reasons but all believing in what France their motherland offers in promise once freedom is achieved. Shot beautifully, delivering some wonderful performances, the story-telling touches on some potentially cinematic sub-plots and moments but never delivers as it slowly but surely converges into an almost french Saving Private Ryan with potential heart and soul of an undiscovered part of french/ww2/north African history being sacrificed to the lack of depth in its story-telling/screenplay and faith in its potential audience who would have loved to have taken a more exploratory journey with the filmmakers.