In general the distribution of films is very tight and ruthless, and anyone in the business will tell you it operates almost like a mafia. This means they decide what you can and can't see. There might be a free market, but there is not a free culture. Notre Musique is one film which was eclipsed in most countries by such financial concerns... despite its brilliance and the fact that it was critically acclaimed.

Therefore let's dive into this beautiful flick by Jean-Luc Godard which is a reflection on the history of modern war. Shot largely in war-torn Sarajevo, the film is part poetry, part journalism and part philosophy. The narrative concerns the fate of two Israeli women, one drawn to the light and one drawn to darkness. The themes are the destruction of Yugoslavia, the Jewish holocaust, the Palestinians, and the massacred Native Americans in the United States. The film is broken up into three sections—Hell (a war zone), Purgatory (half-ruined Sarajevo), and Heaven (a sort of poetical garden space).

An illuminating meditation on the human condition, with sharp insights typical of the best of Godard. But beware, Godard is not someone who rests on his laurels and repeats his earlier successes—all his life he constantly strove to do something new. Therefore, this film is coming from a vision unlike any you have ever seen before. For me it seems that his later films have largely given up any hope of solving our social (political) situation, but, rather, exude the beauty and magic of life itself.

And once again, this movie echoes with the voice of its now dead author, now at a time now as war looms again here in Europe, as a kind of eerie warning. It is a wake-up call to get out of our rut, and see the world as a larger picture, and to grapple with its depth, embrace its poetry. “As our age has endless destructive force, it now needs a revolution of comparative creative force that reinforces memory, clarifies dreams, and gives substance to images...”

+ short film before the feature:

ORIGINS OF THE 21ST CENTURY (De l'origine du XXIe siècle) 2000—An overwhelming 16 minutes essay film directed by Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville, about the state of the modern world. It is considered to be one of their very best.