Philippe Nahoun

Se passa em 1947, no coração de uma vila tradicional malgaxe, em Madagascar. É neste lugar afastado que se fomenta a revolta contra o regime colonial - o germe de uma revolução que, alguns anos mais tarde, levaria à independência de Madagascar. Um "estrangeiro" portador dos princípios do Movimento Democrático da Renovação Malagache (MDRM) trava um debate clandestino com os homens da vila. Que via tomar para a independência? A luta armada? O voto democrático? Transbordando de entusiasmo, o camponês Léhidy se decide pela primeira opção, passando a liderar um grupo de conterrâneos. A história da insurreição e da sua repressão é vista através dos olhos do garoto Solo.

Via the New York Times: ""Le Temps Detruit" is a low-keyed, dreamlike recollection of the first year of World War II as recorded in the letters sent home by three French soldiers, each of whom was killed shortly after the "phony war" came to an end with the German offensive in May 1940. One of these was the father of the film's director. The two others were Paul Nizan, the writer and Communist, who became disillusioned with Marxism when the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed, and Maurice Jaubert, the composer who wrote the scores for a number of films, including Jean Vigo's "Zero de Conduit.""

A quiet French peasant has spent three years as a corporal on the front lines in World War I, and one day he cannot take it anymore and goes AWOL, escaping into the Alps in the southeast of France. He first takes leave of his wife before heading into the mountains and manages to survive in the breathtaking, vast landscape while using all the knowledge and wiles under his command. Even though the area around him is fairly isolated, another deserter arrives on the scene -- but he cannot take the solitude and leaves. As the peasant diligently works at his own survival, the police from the region know he is hiding out somewhere within their jurisdiction, and so his future is anything but secure. This subdued, pacifist film strives for distance rather than emotional involvement, so as to present a pacifist cause as reasonably as possible, but as a consequence, the routine of the deserter's existence verges on a grinding boredom.

Strung together with a series of separate scenes, this film has only one focus and that is the brief period of adjustment when a young student arrives at school, fixes up his room, writes letters to his girlfriend, meets her many times in his room, and then brings a horse into his room. There seems to be no special point to these 90 minutes of sequences, and even the horse seems to wonder what he is doing there.

Pierre Lentier murders an 8-year-old in horrendous circumstances. This 30-something solitary factory worker who lives on the edge of society is sentenced to death. A damning indictment of the death penalty and the manipulative behaviour of the media.

While chaos and the impending doom of World War II are just over the horizon, the members of an impoverished French family are occupied with their own concerns. Most notable among them are the romance of the teenaged girl with a young socialist and the boy's friendship with a German boy.

While chaos and the impending doom of World War II are just over the horizon, the members of an impoverished French family are occupied with their own concerns. Most notable among them are the romance of the teenaged girl with a young socialist and the boy's friendship with a German boy.