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French master Jean-Luc Godard's NOTRE MUSIQUE is a passionate, scathing indictment of war. Divided into three segments, the film boldly condemns the notion of war and the damage that it causes. The first segment, Hell, is a breathtaking visual montage that captures the cruelty and brutality of battle. Next comes Purgatory. Set in postwar, modern-day Sarajevo, this chapter of the film finds Godard at his most philosophical. Godard himself appears as a lecturer at a cultural conference, in which he points out, through a photographic presentation, the similarities between such seemingly opposite groups as the Israelis and Palestinians. Meanwhile, a young Israeli student (Sarah Adler) searches for answers of her own by taking photographs and interviewing various individuals about the concept of power. Another young woman, Olga (Nade Dieu), shows her disdain for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict by performing an act of defiance that leads to the film's third and final segment, Paradise, in which Olga finds herself on the other side of consciousness.
NOTRE MUSIQUE is an expression of frustration with the violence in the world. The opening montage recalls Godard's experimental work from the 1970s, while the middle segment features the same literate, philosophical musings that have been with Godard since day one. Meanwhile, the closing vision of paradise brings to mind his audacious films from the late-1960s (WEEKEND, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL). NOTRE MUSIQUE is the work of a genius who is still at the top of his game.
This film was included in the 42nd New York Film Festival organised by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
