Ici et ailleurs (1976)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Pierre Gorin

Writers:

Jean-Luc Godard (writer)
Jean-Pierre Gorin (writer)

Release Date:

15 September 1976 (France)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Plot:

Godard, Miéville and Gorin (aka the "Dziga Vertov Group") examine the parallel lives of two families - one French, one Palestinian - using an exploratory combination of film and video. |

Plot Keywords:

Montage | Politics | Soldier | Family Relationships | Revolutionary

Cast

Jean-Luc Godard

...

Narrator (voice)

Also Known As:

Here and Elsewhere
Jusqu'à la victoire - Méthodes de pensée et travail de la révolution palestinienne (France) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:53 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Arabic | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont

Movie Connections:

References Godard in America (1970)

A complex analysis of the interplay between image and reality

This documentary is based on older footage that was initially meant to serve "revolutionary" purposes . But after the majority of the actors, that is the original Palestinians that "acted" in that footage were killed and their cause shifted, Godard, no longer a member of the dismantled Dziga Vertov Group, took the footage and made it into this cinematic essay. The images are reedited to fit the new concept, add to this a voice-over covered mostly by Godard himself commenting on different things but mostly on the film and the way it is capable of rendering truth, history, memory etc and how it is also able to manipulate and incite. The presence of references to Triumph of the Will and to that brilliantly monstrous actor Adolf Hitler emphasizes the celluloid nature of film and its essential "problem" that it is the most fake when it mostly purports to show the truth. This is also the situation of Godard's original footage and the tragic limits the newer film sets to put on the capacity of the image to signify something real.