Malevil (1981)
(Countdown der Neutronenbombe)
Country: FR/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor/scope 120m
Director: Christian de Chalonge
Cast: Michel Serrault, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Villeret
Synopsis:
Somewhere in southwestern France a country mayor pores over plans for urban renewal with some of the local men of standing when suddenly the cellar in which they are ensconced is shaken by a scorching nuclear explosion. In the post-holocaust world they first consolidate, then learn to grow food, and finally must fight for survival against the tyrannical aggression of the self-styled 'director', who has taken over another group of survivors in a railway tunnel.
Review:
Having taken its viewers by surprise near the beginning, this apocalyptic drama manages to sustain interest thanks to solid acting from some stalwarts of national cinema, and remarkably convincing landscapes and action which refrains from going over the top. Having established for themselves a sort of paradis terrestre and finally grown reconciled to their solitude the characters' climactic 'rescue' by the authorities is ambivalent, an impression enhanced by the shots of the horse galloping (free, aimless?) across the countryside and the stunned silence of the survivors. The final shot, however, carries obscurity too far, as a raft carries a handful of castaways downstream.
(Countdown der Neutronenbombe)
Country: FR/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor/scope 120m
Director: Christian de Chalonge
Cast: Michel Serrault, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Villeret
Synopsis:
Somewhere in southwestern France a country mayor pores over plans for urban renewal with some of the local men of standing when suddenly the cellar in which they are ensconced is shaken by a scorching nuclear explosion. In the post-holocaust world they first consolidate, then learn to grow food, and finally must fight for survival against the tyrannical aggression of the self-styled 'director', who has taken over another group of survivors in a railway tunnel.
Review:
Having taken its viewers by surprise near the beginning, this apocalyptic drama manages to sustain interest thanks to solid acting from some stalwarts of national cinema, and remarkably convincing landscapes and action which refrains from going over the top. Having established for themselves a sort of paradis terrestre and finally grown reconciled to their solitude the characters' climactic 'rescue' by the authorities is ambivalent, an impression enhanced by the shots of the horse galloping (free, aimless?) across the countryside and the stunned silence of the survivors. The final shot, however, carries obscurity too far, as a raft carries a handful of castaways downstream.
(Countdown der Neutronenbombe)
Country: FR/GER
Technical: Eastmancolor/scope 120m
Director: Christian de Chalonge
Cast: Michel Serrault, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Villeret
Synopsis:
Somewhere in southwestern France a country mayor pores over plans for urban renewal with some of the local men of standing when suddenly the cellar in which they are ensconced is shaken by a scorching nuclear explosion. In the post-holocaust world they first consolidate, then learn to grow food, and finally must fight for survival against the tyrannical aggression of the self-styled 'director', who has taken over another group of survivors in a railway tunnel.
Review:
Having taken its viewers by surprise near the beginning, this apocalyptic drama manages to sustain interest thanks to solid acting from some stalwarts of national cinema, and remarkably convincing landscapes and action which refrains from going over the top. Having established for themselves a sort of paradis terrestre and finally grown reconciled to their solitude the characters' climactic 'rescue' by the authorities is ambivalent, an impression enhanced by the shots of the horse galloping (free, aimless?) across the countryside and the stunned silence of the survivors. The final shot, however, carries obscurity too far, as a raft carries a handful of castaways downstream.