Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Luc Rolland When I saw this movie at the Montreal Film Festival, I was impressed by this contemplative movie. Like any contemplation, it sees everything about human nature and subtly refers to it. No flash, no gadgets, no lectures, just the plain vision of things as they are. He just lets you to be the judge of things. Then, I became a great fan of Tavernier's movies. This movie occupied my mind for ever after and never left me. This movie also confirmed how useless and dreadful this war was, and maybe how ridiculous most wars are. Perhaps my favourite movie ever. Anyway, a must see.This movie has a sequel called Captain Conan which also shows Tavernier's prowess in making art and intelligent cinema where a lot of characters are involved and seem so natural.

Michael Neumann Director Bertrand Tavernier dares to show the true futility of warfare and the hypocrisy behind every call to arms by revealing how the so-called Great War (like every other war before or since) didn't end with an armistice, except of course for the dead. Phillipe Noiret stars as a military statistician assigned to account for the missing and identify the deceased; his expertise is sought by two women, strangers to each other but linked by a terrible secret.Noiret's character is that rarest of silver screen creatures, a middle-aged hero, and of truly heroic (but no less lifelike) proportions: competent and compassionate while at the same time flawed and uncertain. Over the course of his investigation he discovers firsthand the legacy of state-approved wholesale slaughter, and learns that after four years of bloody trench warfare some graves are best left unturned. With delicate insight and strong but subtle irony the film succeeds in putting a human face on the true victims of any war: not just the dead and disabled, but the civilians caught in the crossfire.

Corvin Ello It is the end of the first World War, in France. Major Delaplane (Noiret) is ferociously determined to insure no dead soldier remains anonymous, despite the pressure from military and political authorities to keep them buried as a "lot".He keeps scrupulous count of each and every "casualty" he finds, treating each dead man with the absolute and final equality attained in death: he refuses to put any extra effort in tracing a rich one faster than a poor one.When he meets a grieved, upper-class widow looking for her dead husband, this man and this woman's worlds are shaken. From their distant positions, they start a slow and respectful journey towards each other, and the power of life over destruction will prevail.As always with Bertrand Tavernier, the personal story of the characters is tightly woven into the political issues of the times, as it is for all of us, whether we realize and like it or not.This is a film that celebrates the power of the individual within society, not outside of it. It is good for the soul in these times of fatalism, cynicism and loss of hope in man's good will.If you like this film, do not miss Tavernier's other films, they are all excellent.

quincey-2 A wonderfully acted and well written drama set in France in the aftermath of World War One. It's a romance about the importance of memory in morality and love and coming to terms with loss on an individual and national scale.