A Perfect Movie

Right now I'm working on a big, long rant about space travel, so in the mean time, I want to point out a film that you should see: The Battle of Algiers.

For those that don't know The Battle Algiers, it is an Italian directed movie about the end of French colonialism in Algeria. It documents the violent clashes, the terrorism, and the hideous tit-for-tat that eventually led to the overthrow of the French regime specifically in the city of Algiers. It's also much more than that. It's a thriller that also happens to be a highly political film-- one you could almost take any way you want. It is also as an immensely allegorical movie, but none of that meaning or weight makes the drama or the specific details of the Algerian revolution any less impactful, it's as fresh now as it was when it came out. In short, it's a classic.

For those that do know what the deal with this movie: This is me guilting you into watching it. What are you doing living a life without this movie? Do you think you are God?

And for those of you who have seen it you know that I'm stating the obvious. I might as well wax on about Breathless or Rashomon.

The overthrow of French rule in Algeria celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. I don't expect you to suddenly care one way or the other, but if that's the excuse that puts you over the edge, then that'd be just dandy.

The Battle of Algiers is currently available in a beautiful set from the Criterion Collection and the packaging alone is almost worth the purchase.

If you love politics, if you love history, if you love really stylish films, and if you just love film, you really do owe it to yourself to see this film. You're welcome ahead of time. And if you're the type of Frenchman that is still ass-hurt about Algeria, then I would recommend that you avoid The Day of the Jackal and then get over it, bro.

Dude Fuck Yeah

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Thrilling Tales of Consumerism!

As I've talked about on the podcast, having a job has really spun me out into a region of space with which I have little familiarity. It must be a bit like having cataracts removed, it's all new colors and shapes and really has no bearing on my former semi-ascetic existence. It's weird to be able to buy things. Most of what I've spent my money on-- besides booze and hipster clothes-- is books and comics (or "comic books" as I call them).*

I'm a better nerd than I am a son. The Saturday before Mother's Day I bought a hundred and fifty dollars worth of comic books (but on sale for only a hundred bucks). I then bought fifty dollars worth of flowers and roses for my mom and for my sisters. This also makes me a better consumer than a Marxist. There's worse things to not be, I suppose.

I bought a large stack of books over the past couple of weeks (in addition to an untold amount of liquor, tchockies, and, finally, terminally, ultimately, a massive HD TV). My shelf space is in severe danger of having to expand to the floor. One of the books (and, ideally, I'll get around to both reviewing and reading all of the books and things I've bought, making them work for me to some extent), is Chris Schweizer's Crogan's March.

Crogan's March hits a certain spot for me and as I was telling the store clerk in the line on Free Comic Book Day (if that isn't a tell for how long it's taken me to start, write, and finish this entry, then I have no tell), anything with breech loaded weaponry, I'm game for. He responded with saying that he knew what I meant and he just got into the Sharpe's series of films, which, I guess, meant that he didn't know what I meant, but I wasn't a big enough asshole to bring this up especially considering that the line was maybe fifty people long and this guy probably had better things to worry about than proper firearm nomenclature.

He was right in his own way about this book, though. It's an old school adventure tale, a great imperial adventure that simply isn't made any more. It's the kind of a story I love. It's The Man Who Would be King** is one such story, the Sharpe's series definitely fit into that mold, and Crogan's March can soundly claim to be a relative of those two sets of stories.

I remember finding out about this book at least a year or two ago (maybe back before it was even published). I think I found it while looking up the French Foreign Legion or French army uniforms on Google Image Search and through one way or another, I wound up on Schweizer's website. I'm glad I found it, because, as a result I ended up reading a delightful little war book (but don't take my word for it!)


(Here's a beautifully rendered image of a North African city.)

Crogan's March is a compact story about Imperial France's unfortunate colonial experiment in Northern Africa. While it does wind through the kind of predictable steps that an adventure story about North Africa almost has to (indifference and confusion about the mission, the hard-as-nails-sergeant-with-a-heart-of-gold, the incompetent commander, racism, sand, etc etc etc), it transcends what could have been a by the numbers plot by demonstarting that Mr. Schweizer put quite a lot of work into the research. What's even better than demonstrating that this book had a lengthy incubation is that he manages to fit these details into the story and it doesn't feel like an information dump. These tidbits about North Africa, goums, or the hunting habits of Berber sheikhs feel like they're relevant to the plot and not just garnish on a boring story. In some cases they are the plot itself.

Maybe he just made it all up, I don't know. If he did make it all up off the top of his head, then I guess that would also be telling of his talent as a writer.

Seeing this sort of thing encourages me because it deals with a lot of the same things I'm working on in my comic (ever so slowly). If it works there, I imagine it can work here.

The art is quite well done, as well, and like the writing it doesn't seem labored or crammed into the book. It has this kind of loose cartoony style and it fits perfectly into the story despite seemingly like it might be at odds with the contents (colonial warfare) and the tone (DOOM). While it isn't realistic by any means, it is representational enough of the time and the characters to give weight to the book where a lesser artist wouldn't be able to do so. The uniforms seem to be perfectly of the period and the characters in them deliver this clever and telling shorthand to the writer like good cartoons should. The mountains and deserts of Africa look great and, again, it seems like this book is in Africa and not just an adventure book that says it's in Africa.

Again, this is kind of a thing encouraging to me, because my art is probably more like a Schweizer than an artist that might seem like a more obvious fit (I mean, not just in terms of style, but in terms of talent-- not to say that Schweizer isn't a talented man, I just-- aw, jeese, I'm going to stop digging here). All I mean is that if this man can get away with putting together a fun book about a serious subject, then there's a chance I can get away with it, as well. That's all I mean.

Phew.

Even if you aren't an aspiring historical war comic creator or in love with a certain bizarre and brief period of time, there's plenty to like with Crogan's March, because, its a well told story and more than the collection of eccentricities. As a final note, just about any one at any age level can read this book and at only fifteen bucks (with a hardback cover, no less), I can't think of a good reason not to-- well, maybe severe adherence to Marxism, but even that can bend for something as good as this, right?



*I probably don't have to, but I feel that I should apologize. I haven't finished a review in what feels like years. The reality is that it's probably less than a month that I sat down and acted like I had any right to review something, which is slightly more depressing. I need to get my shit together.

**I love The Man Who Would Be King, if you didn't know.

God Save You

Read this.

Gay, Occupied Paris

Click here if you want to see full color photos of Paris during the German occupation (or one of them, anyways).

This looks like the singularly least fun New Wave film that ever was.

The color on those is rather amazing. Not that color photos during WWII surprises me (color footage does, though, I mean, come on, that's amazing), but the variety of color is strange. It reminds me of Kodak Kodachrome. That's probably because of each stock's respective age (and subject matter) and not because of their actual visual qualities. It's just amazing to see one color version of the past look so different from another version of the past, when each subject, each time over laps. I guess it's like seeing Technicolor versus black and white. Each film stock gives off a different feeling that I really can't put my finger on.

Either way, I'm stealing all of this for the WWII comic. This you can be assured.

"Our Day Will Come"

notre jour viendra - feature film trailer from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

I don't know what the hell this is, but I'm down. It looks like it's the right kind of insane that I need in my life right now. Lot of that wrong kind of crazy been passing through lately, asking for a ride. Had enough of that shit.

Rock the Casbah

The Battle of Algiers is one of the best movies ever made. That's not my opinion, that's verifiable fact. It's a simply amazing movie and if you haven't seen it, you're a lesser person for it. It's great. It's one of the most real looking movies I've ever seen (probably because it didn't use professional actors for the most part). It's arresting from start to finish and it elucidates a chapter of western history that we either choose to ignore or simply don't know about, which is colonialism-- 20th century colonialism.

I saw the movie at the height of the Iraq War, back when our men and women were getting the shit blown out of them on a seemingly daily basis by an unseen, unknown, unaccountable enemy that just wanted to hurt as badly as they could. With that said, I don't think it's my experience at the time that makes it an allegorical film. It's a film that revolves around insurgent warfare and a domestic resistance against an occupying power. It makes for an interesting viewing experience to root for the Arabs to displace and destroy the white soldiers that are trying to bring order to their country.

I've written about this movie before, you can read my write up of it here.

Anyways, this is all a roundabout way of bringing up these series of photographs that are on the New York Times' photoblog (what an ugly word that is).

Look at it. Look at it because it's an interesting document of a world we have very little to do with. Look at it because the people in the photographs don't want you to. Look at it because its mere existance is a loogie in the eye of every French imperialist there ever was.

And at the end of the day, isn't that what it's really about?

Hot French, Chain-Smoking Adventuresses

I can hear the accordion music from here.


Is that French Johnny Depp?