A Grin Without a Cat
This is a three-hour documentary, made in 1977 by French filmmaker Chris Marker, and revised in 1992, concerning the leftist movements of the 1960s and '70s. It is periodically fascinating, but mostly a trudge that only someone with an advanced degree in world politics could appreciate.
Marker's film goes all over the world, mostly focused on Latin America and Europe, with some sidetrips to the U.S.A. The film opens with scenes of atrocity in Vietnam, intercut with a U.S. pilot talking about how "fun" it is to drop bombs on the citizens. Later he spends some time on the revolutions in South America, namely Venezuela and Bolivia, with footage of the corpse of Che Guevara, who gets a hero's treatment here.
Much of the middle section of the film is pretty dull, with lots of talking heads in grainy black and white footage arguing about the status of the French communist party. There are scenes of the May Day riots in Paris, and then the attempted revolt against the Soviets in Prague (ironically a tank that was used when the Russians liberated Prague in 1945 remained in a public square as a monument, but it was now a monument to something quite different).
The film ends with a long segment on the election and then overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. Allende, of course, was overthrown with help from the U.S. This is reinforced by scenes of the opulent lifestyle of the Shah of Iran, who of course was also propped into power by the U.S. So if the obvious anti-American sentiment of a French guy rankles, at least we can believe that he's telling the truth.
Marker's film goes all over the world, mostly focused on Latin America and Europe, with some sidetrips to the U.S.A. The film opens with scenes of atrocity in Vietnam, intercut with a U.S. pilot talking about how "fun" it is to drop bombs on the citizens. Later he spends some time on the revolutions in South America, namely Venezuela and Bolivia, with footage of the corpse of Che Guevara, who gets a hero's treatment here.
Much of the middle section of the film is pretty dull, with lots of talking heads in grainy black and white footage arguing about the status of the French communist party. There are scenes of the May Day riots in Paris, and then the attempted revolt against the Soviets in Prague (ironically a tank that was used when the Russians liberated Prague in 1945 remained in a public square as a monument, but it was now a monument to something quite different).
The film ends with a long segment on the election and then overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. Allende, of course, was overthrown with help from the U.S. This is reinforced by scenes of the opulent lifestyle of the Shah of Iran, who of course was also propped into power by the U.S. So if the obvious anti-American sentiment of a French guy rankles, at least we can believe that he's telling the truth.
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