Wooden Crosses director Bernard's film is closer to the Hugo than the musical version Les Mis and perhaps many American tastes - although not near the film equivalent of Hugo's hundred pages are given to the Battle of Waterloo alone. Ponderous pace works better in books than in films. How does on cast for Romanticism? I pity the director this task, but I admit I do nor care for this Jean Valjean the elder's droopy visage. Where is the energy that lifts carts and runs cities; only in his layers of bulk?
Even in the battle scenes the top hats stay on in this film. I will not critique the melodramatic handling of the death of the boy on the barricade, for it is in keeping with Hugo's tone for whatever virtue others imagine there is in that. I will point out its precocity in a willingness to deal, however obliquely, with the long-standing issue of child combatants. Alas, that issue is with us still today.
Even in the battle scenes the top hats stay on in this film. I will not critique the melodramatic handling of the death of the boy on the barricade, for it is in keeping with Hugo's tone for whatever virtue others imagine there is in that. I will point out its precocity in a willingness to deal, however obliquely, with the long-standing issue of child combatants. Alas, that issue is with us still today.
No comments:
Post a Comment