2003 Winner, The Barbarian Invasions

The Barbarian Invasions

Director:  Danys Arcand

Distributed by:  Miramax Films

Released:  May 2003

Country:  Canada

Maybe because this movie is a sequel, and the second of a trilogy, I just didn’t connect with this film.  The first film in the series, The Decline of the American Empire, was made in 1986, so the filmmakers took their sweet time in getting the old gang back together for another go at it.  Now you would think that with title words like “Empire” and “Barbarian Invasions” maybe you would be sitting down to some middle-earth epic with orcs or ewoks or possibly a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  You would think wrong.  The Barbarian Invasions is about a bunch of French Canadian middle-aged ex-hippies smoking doobies and pontificating about the bourgeois.  Talk about false advertising.

An Orc invasion would have livened this up a bit

The story is about Rémy, an older ex-professor and socialist who is stuck in a hospital with terminal cancer.  His son Sébastien is some bigshot business-type, pretty much the personification of what his dear old papa hates.  Sébastien loves his dad and wants to do what he can for him to ease his pain, but this is Canada, not Iowa, so getting timely healthcare isn’t really all that easy.  Besides gathering all of Rémy’s aging hipster pals in the hospital to cheer him up, Sébastien drives his dad into pre-Obamacare Vermont to get some real meds.

The cast:  French Canadian ex-hippies

But the real “plot” is with the old folks hanging out, getting high, exchanging glory stories of free sex and Marxism.  In other words, the whole thing gets dull in a hurry.  Imagine The Big Chill, add 20 years and 20 pounds to everyone, and have them speak French.  In addition to that, and I could be wrong about this, I think the filmmakers wanted us to think some of this was funny.  I found the whole thing a bore with very little to recommend it.  I couldn’t wait for Rémy, and the movie, to end.

Slightly younger, thinner ex-hippies

The Title: Les Invasions barbares.  I have no idea how this relates to the movie, but the title has to do with a post-911 thing.  See, when the Barbarians invaded Rome, it was the beginning of the end of a great empire.  So I guess the filmmakers equate al Qaida with Angles and Saxons and Goths?  And what does this have to do with Rémy's imminent demise?  Je ne sais pas.  Makes no sense to me.

The Culture:  Other than some slight commentary on the health care system, this could have happened anywhere there is political freedom enough for ex-hippies to decry their government.

Agenda Danger:  Again, there is an oblique swipe at Canadian health care, but most of the politics is tame generational conflict.  Like, remember le peace, la love, and le dope, man?

Best Picture that year:  Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.  Real invasions and real barbarians. Sort of.

Rating:  Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Best Foreign Films Winners 1991-2015 Ranked

Best Foreign Film (BFF) winners (2015-1991) ranked

Worst to First

Since I started My BFF Project in June 2016, I’ve reviewed 26 winners of the Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language.  Just because they won the Oscar doesn’t mean they were good, at not least to me.  And just because the movie isn't good doesn't mean my review isn't.  Hopefully.  Here I rank them, including a word or two from each review.  Click the titles to read the full reviews.

I found all but one of these movies using my Cuyahoga County Library Card (that’s the county that includes Cleveland, Ohio).   Most of them can be watched using IMDb or Amazon, or possibly Netflix or On Demand for the more recent films.  A new review every Tuesday!

Enjoy!

26.  From Spain, 1999 Winner, All About My Mother--. . .  "I give it a full thumbs-down."

25.  From Italy, 1991 Winner, Mediterraneo--"Skip this movie and go have yourself a banana split."

24. From Canada, 2003 Winner, The Barbarian Invasions—"Zzzzzzzzzzzzz."

 

23.  From Spain, 2004 Winner, The Sea Inside--"Do I recommend it?  Nein! Nein! Nein! Nein! Nein!"

22.  From France, 2012 Winner, Amour--"I wouldn't say this movie is the opposite of love, but I give it a solid: 'Meh.'"

21.  From France, 1992 Winner, Indochine--"Unfortunately, in the end, what little I got out of it wasn’t worth it.  Just like Vietnam."

  

20.  From the Netherlands, 1997 Winner, Character--"As an art film, it works.  As a work of entertainment, it’s not worth the effort."

19.  From Italy, 2013 Winner, The Great Beauty--"I give it three of five meatballs, or whatever they use to rate movies in Rome."

18.  From Denmark, 2010 Winner, In a Better World--"To me, not a great Danish film."
 

17.  From the Netherlands, 1995 Winner, Antonia's Line--"Women will like it more than men, and that’s . . . okay."

 

16.  From Bosnia, 2001 Winner, No Man's Land--"Worth a look if you like war movies, especially the anti-war kind."

15.  From Spain, 1993 Winner, Belle Époque--"Light in tone and visually satisfying . . . .Why not check it out?"

14.  From South Africa, 2005 Winner, Tsotsi--"One of those films I will never watch a second time, but certainly worth a good one-time screening."

13.  From The Czech Republic, 1996 Winner, Kolya--"Maybe you won’t be thinking about it for any length of time when you are done and maybe you wouldn’t put it into any kind of Top Ten lists.  But definitely an entertaining story."

 

12. From Russia, 1994 Winner, Burnt by the Sun--"Worth seeing, if not an outstanding movie."

 

11.  From Switzerland, 1990 Winner, Journey of Hope--"This cost me $2 on Amazon to watch it and it was worth every penny."

10.  From Hungary, 2015 Winner, Son of Saul--"I wouldn’t recommend this one for a first date, unless you are hoping there won’t be a second one.  That said, this a significant work of historical record."

 

9.  From Taiwan, 2000 Winner, Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon--"A very fun movie to watch, especially on the big screen (as I did when it came out), even if when you walk away you have no idea what happened."

8.  From Germany, 2007 Winner, The Counterfeiters--"As a non-war war movie, this one hits the mark.  The real kind."

7.  From Argentina, 2009 Winner, The Secret inTheir Eyes--Fun to watch, like a good cop show.

 

6.  From Japan, 2008 Winner, Departures--"A film with comedy that isn’t over the top and has drama at the right tone.  Believe me, you are dying to see it."

5. From Poland, 2014 Winner, Ida--"I’ll give it a 16-going-on-17 out of 20."

 

4. From Germany, 2002 Winner, Nowhere in Africa--"8 out of 10 . . . "

3.  From Iran, 2011 Winner, A Separation--You will relate.  This one is a treasure.

2.     From Germany, 2006 Winner, The Lives of Others--"I don’t know if this was the best movie I ever saw . . . but it is one of the best foreign ones I’ve ever seen."

1. 
   From Italy . . . 1998 Winner, Life IsBeautiful--"I bet if someone had walked in on me watching this movie, they would have asked me what I was smiling about."