Le Petit Soldat

views updated

Le Petit Soldat ★★★ 1960

The passage of time has softened the controversy that swirled about Godard's second film (after “Breathless”) in the initial release. It's the story of photographer Bruno Forestier (Subor), who joins the French nationalist movement against Algeria. While he tries to decide whether to follow orders to kill one of the opposition, he falls in love with a model (the lovely Karina, in her debut), unaware of her political beliefs. Godard's once-revolutionary on-the-fly filmmaking techniques seem completely contemporary and natural now. For serious students of film, this one makes a long-overdue debut on home video. 88m/B VHS, DVD . FR Michel Subor, Anna Karina, Henri-Jacques Huet, Paul Beauvais, Georges De Beauregard, Jean-Luc Godard, Laszlo Szabo; D: Jean-Luc Godard; W: Jean-Luc Godard; C: Raoul Coutard; M: Maurice Leroux.