Le Petit Soldat is a film made in 1960 but not shown in France until 1963, because of the content dealing with the conflict in Algeria between the French colonialists and the Algerian people wanting independence, the independence they got in 1962.
The film also openly discuss the use of torture in the war between these two countries, a method neither country admitted having used, though they both used these methods in order to get vital information about the counterpart.
One of the main characters, Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor) tries to flee the enlistment in France but the French intelligence forces him to work for them and they want him to kill a member of the FLN, just to prove that he is not a double agent, something the authorities are assuming.
He hesitates and in the meantime he meets a woman by the name of Veronica Dreyer (Anna Karina), a collaborator to FLN.
When falling in love with her he agrees to kill the member of FLN and in return he wants the French to guarantee him and Veronica free passage to Brazil where they can hide.
Unfortunately for them, the French discover her connections to the FLN and torture her to death. Before this Bruno also became tortured by the Algerian resistance movement.
The film also discusses other meta-philosophical issues and not least war, the responsibility even in war to stick to certain rules and regulations concerning the treatment of prisoners etc.
One also discuss 'the truth' (whatever that is) and how the truth can be captured by the still camera but even more so by the film camera, whereby the meta question about the nature of cinema and its purpose is discussed and this is partly expressed in the famous phrase uttered by Bruno:
"La photographie, c'est la vérité, et le cinéma, c'est vingt-quatre fois la vérité par seconde" in English: "Photography is truth, and cinema is truth 24 times per second".
In this phrase one can scent the question about cinema as provoking the truth in society by posing the questions noone wants to pose and this through words, music and the image or images.
Godard wants to point out that film is much more important than just one and a half or two hours of entertainment and that the cinema deals with important human questions, not discussed in public or in society as a whole, not the way the cinema can talk about or display it.
The issues are both hidden and manifest if one can read the cinema in a more deepened, profound way.
Actors, besides the above mentioned: Henri-Jacques Huet and Paul Beauvais among others.
The film also openly discuss the use of torture in the war between these two countries, a method neither country admitted having used, though they both used these methods in order to get vital information about the counterpart.
One of the main characters, Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor) tries to flee the enlistment in France but the French intelligence forces him to work for them and they want him to kill a member of the FLN, just to prove that he is not a double agent, something the authorities are assuming.He hesitates and in the meantime he meets a woman by the name of Veronica Dreyer (Anna Karina), a collaborator to FLN.
When falling in love with her he agrees to kill the member of FLN and in return he wants the French to guarantee him and Veronica free passage to Brazil where they can hide.
Unfortunately for them, the French discover her connections to the FLN and torture her to death. Before this Bruno also became tortured by the Algerian resistance movement.
The film also discusses other meta-philosophical issues and not least war, the responsibility even in war to stick to certain rules and regulations concerning the treatment of prisoners etc.
One also discuss 'the truth' (whatever that is) and how the truth can be captured by the still camera but even more so by the film camera, whereby the meta question about the nature of cinema and its purpose is discussed and this is partly expressed in the famous phrase uttered by Bruno:"La photographie, c'est la vérité, et le cinéma, c'est vingt-quatre fois la vérité par seconde" in English: "Photography is truth, and cinema is truth 24 times per second".
In this phrase one can scent the question about cinema as provoking the truth in society by posing the questions noone wants to pose and this through words, music and the image or images.
Godard wants to point out that film is much more important than just one and a half or two hours of entertainment and that the cinema deals with important human questions, not discussed in public or in society as a whole, not the way the cinema can talk about or display it.
The issues are both hidden and manifest if one can read the cinema in a more deepened, profound way.
Actors, besides the above mentioned: Henri-Jacques Huet and Paul Beauvais among others.
(Photo Anna Karina on the poster copoied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndC1bfNRJ-JHfr8E3OntxDYh3JVtkM_SB7KOtXmTW0XcVAnN_3Gas7WYQ7wzHo_PScfb0A7tLCl-a9aPG68_gFd2meDLcWz6TS6kf8jK9EOecg8iDF0QgFuPLIx_51rWErrwP/s1600/7352265360_Le_Petit_Soldat_1963_Jean_Luc_GODARD.jpg)
(Photo Michel Subor copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-PO2D7SnWNKsxZTvTlnt_I8gkVKFZrsZWp4ldGVXi3HCr1FitG1HtSEX6fhwFFFAxCj_F1dVgVkaEIcDdLsFDkJXydtnt0QG_9Rw8-eJLuwvZd4LELfOwRAXwfdUUItM06T1N/s1600/Le+Petite+Soldat+-2010-10-25-01h53m48s128.jpg)
(Photo shower-torture-scene copied from: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/PetitSoldatDenis/ClaireDenisJCimages/cap433.jpg)
(Photo shower-torture-scene copied from: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/PetitSoldatDenis/ClaireDenisJCimages/cap433.jpg)
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