Who's in It: Adélaïde Leroux, Samuel Boidin
The Basics: Even though this movie's title has inspired a lot of Homer Simpson impersonations in my house this week, it's got nothing to do with Ned Flanders. It is, in fact, a somber, distant film about some small-town guys who go off to war and leave their friend, the town slut, behind to wait for them. Horrible things happen to — and because of — everyone involved, so it's really about how people are animals, whether they're poking around rural farms or fighting in hellish Middle Eastern wars.
What's the Deal? The primary activity is people hanging out waiting for stuff to happen. They do a lot of staring at the landscape while they wait. And in between waiting, the men at war occupy their time by accidentally killing Middle Eastern children, raping villagers and calling into question the sexuality of the one man who refused to join in the rape. Meanwhile, the town slut finds out she's pregnant, announces she's having an abortion, goes off for a smoke, then suffers a psychological breakdown.
War — and Pretty Much Everything Else — Is Hell: What's most interesting about this movie is its abstraction. All kinds of human brutality go down, but director Bruno Dumont (L'Humanité, Twentynine Palms) doesn't get all crazy trying to figure it out. He's more a very detached observer, and his characters are like emotionless bugs that he's studying with a big magnifying glass, one he uses to scorch them all into crispy dead things by film's end. So, you know, fun.
Who Should See It: People who enjoy a good wallow in quiet devastation and especially fans of Dumont and his way with intentionally slack-faced non-professional actors that he somehow gets really compelling and snot-nosed performances out of.
Pedigree: Won the Jury Grand Prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and caused a stink with critics who really hate Dumont. Was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Didn't win.