The Fear

Gabriel, Bertrand and Theophile are all friends who join up in the first wave of war fervour in 1914 and are sent out to fight 'the Bosch'. Gabriel leaves behind his girlfriend Marguerite, and the film is told mostly through him reading the letters that he sends to her.

This is played out as the on screen action unfolds and develops as we are taken through all of the horrors that he and his comrades have to face. There are also some very realistic and upsetting hospital scenes and graphic depictions of the horror of war and the creeping madness that afflicted some of those poor men.

Now this is like poetry in places as the narration flows with a breadth of language that has hidden beauty despite being about some of the most base of things. The period detail and uniforms seemed to be spot on. They start out in their 19th Century uniforms before they realised what a mistake that was and moved on to the blue grey with actual helmets.

There is real filth everywhere and some of the scenes are devastating, especially one of a bombardment. This though is a film that some will baulk at as it is not really a 'war film' but I was transfixed, attracted and repelled in equal measure. It has a run time of 89 minutes but seemed to last a mere handful. The performances are universally excellent and this from writer and director Damien Oduol who brought us the stunningly excellent 'Le Soufflé' and is a supreme talent in my books. This is cinema at its most alluring, upsetting, poetic and stunningly brilliant and is one of the reasons I watch World Cinema – absolutely recommended.