Sunday August 11th 2013, Movie night. Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema by Jeffrey Babcock. Door open at 20:00, film begin at 21:00
Le corbeau: The raven (Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1943, 92 min.) In French with English subtitles
This is a wild little French thriller with a wonderful punch directed by the great Henri-Georges Clouzot (Wages of Fear, Inferno, Les Diabolique). Made during the German occupation of France, the movie is about an unknown informant who is writing poison-pen letters about the villagers of a small French provincial town. The letters are accusing certain townspeople of taking drugs, adultery, of half-truths, and a variety of petty crimes….and the letters are signed anonymously with just “The Raven”. This informant throws the entire city out of balance, resulting in a series of tragedies including accusations, suicide and murder.
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a master at the noir thriller, and this was one of his best films. Since the film is so unusual and so wonderful, then why has it largely been forgotten? One reason is that since France was occupied by the Nazis when this film was made, Clouzot had to make it with a German production company, which put him in a strange position. The film was attacked by Nazis (since the film criticizes the use of informants), but it was also attacked by the Resistance movement because it made the French population look bad. Its a magnificent film on so many levels…. eerie, astute, penetrating. A masterwork of cinema (And totally relevant still today when the Dutch government encourages us to become anonymous
informants about our neighbors).
Film night at Joe’s Garage, warm and cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net
