Philippe Nahoun

Via the New York Times: ""Le Temps Detruit" is a low-keyed, dreamlike recollection of the first year of World War II as recorded in the letters sent home by three French soldiers, each of whom was killed shortly after the "phony war" came to an end with the German offensive in May 1940. One of these was the father of the film's director. The two others were Paul Nizan, the writer and Communist, who became disillusioned with Marxism when the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed, and Maurice Jaubert, the composer who wrote the scores for a number of films, including Jean Vigo's "Zero de Conduit.""

Tabataba tells the story of a small Malagasy village during the independence uprising which took place in 1947 in the south of the country. For several months, part of the Malagasy population revolted against the French colonial army in a bloody struggle. The repression in villages that followed was terrible, leading to fires, arrests and torture. Women, children and the elderly were the indirect victims of the conflict and suffered particularly from famine and illness. One leader of the MDRM Malagasy Party, which campaigns for the independence of the country, arrives in a village. Solo (François Botozandry), the main character, is still too young to fight but he sees his brother and most of the men in his clan join up. His grandmother, Bakanga (Soavelo), knows what will happen, but Solo still hopes his elder brother will return a hero. After months of rumours, he sees instead the French army arrive to crush the rebellion.

A quiet French peasant has spent three years as a corporal on the front lines in World War I, and one day he cannot take it anymore and goes AWOL, escaping into the Alps in the southeast of France. He first takes leave of his wife before heading into the mountains and manages to survive in the breathtaking, vast landscape while using all the knowledge and wiles under his command. Even though the area around him is fairly isolated, another deserter arrives on the scene -- but he cannot take the solitude and leaves. As the peasant diligently works at his own survival, the police from the region know he is hiding out somewhere within their jurisdiction, and so his future is anything but secure. This subdued, pacifist film strives for distance rather than emotional involvement, so as to present a pacifist cause as reasonably as possible, but as a consequence, the routine of the deserter's existence verges on a grinding boredom.

Sophie et Bruno s'aiment. Nous sommes en 1935. Elle est apprentie comédienne, lui militant communiste. Alors que le Front Populaire se prépare activement, le couple se délite subitement...Sophie rencontre Thomas, un jeune allemand... Le destin de ce trio va être irrémédiablement bouleversé par la montée du fascisme et de la guerre...

Film sur la peine de mort.

Strung together with a series of separate scenes, this film has only one focus and that is the brief period of adjustment when a young student arrives at school, fixes up his room, writes letters to his girlfriend, meets her many times in his room, and then brings a horse into his room. There seems to be no special point to these 90 minutes of sequences, and even the horse seems to wonder what he is doing there.

Strung together with a series of separate scenes, this film has only one focus and that is the brief period of adjustment when a young student arrives at school, fixes up his room, writes letters to his girlfriend, meets her many times in his room, and then brings a horse into his room. There seems to be no special point to these 90 minutes of sequences, and even the horse seems to wonder what he is doing there.