Liberté, la nuit

(Philippe Garrel, France 1983, 82 min., 35mm, French w/subtitles)

Philippe Garrel. Garrel pays tribute to his parents and the supporters of the FLN (National Liberation Front) in their struggle for Algerian liberation, again casting his father Maurice and wife Brigitte Sy, as well as László Szabó and Emmanuelle Riva. Time is slowed to observe determined hands in craft, and finally to slow motion, to inflict the full horror of violence.

“Mine is the cinema of the left—if I refused to join the army, if I have contempt for the various means of amassing money, it’s thanks to a few people I knew in my childhood, who lived in conditions of poverty, but who were kings.” — Philippe Garrel