Photos and Clip


"Today, in Flanders, the local young men leave as soldiers to fight in a distant land. The story of soldiers going to the front, their march, the comrades, the misery of war. The wait for horror – the horror itself – and what happens after, when they have to become men again..."

http://www.filmsdistribution.com/film.php?id=8

(click "Promoreel" under "Link" for a combat scene)

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Dumont's work thus far is, I think, too staunchly uncompromising for one to expect anything less than a uniquely bracing approach to the war film genre. And I wouldn't be surprised if the combined force of his disturbing artistry and the film's topical resonance garners top honors at this year's Cannes (which looks to be, on the strength of both the films rumored to be In Competition and the fact that Wong Kar Wai is heading the Jury, an uncommonly fine year).

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Different than his other work?

Yeah, maybe it'll be a satirical comedy like MASH or a homo-erotic snooze like JARHEAD...

I kid! I'm guessing a cross between Bergman's SHAME and Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET.

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Hum... not so different I think.
It's today, not a reel war (not Irak's one because he talks about french people).
It could be an introspective journey with psychological violence and horror like in "Johnny got his gun".
The movie takes place in Flanders like "La vie de Jésus" and "L'humanité", it's his "country", his life. It couldn't be the same thing as american movies like Jarhead or MASH !

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Duh, I was *joking*

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From what I've heard so far of the film, it's going to be very hardcore and disturbing. Cannot say whether disturbingly beautiful or disturbingly ugly - but thought-provoking, that much can be said with confidence. I'll refrain from saying more as it would involve spoiling the film's surprise, but I cannot wait for the film to come out where I live, if it is to ever come out.

Oh wait, I can still compare it to films from the past. If I had the liberty, I'd say that Flandres is going to be more like Trier's Dogville in its message (although not in the technical or artistic execution).

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