Bande à Part: A Review review

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Nitesh Rohit's review of Jean Luc Godard's 1964 Bande à part (Band of Outsiders). This review was sent as an entry for the DearCinema Review Contest.

Today the Cinema of Jean Luc Godard stands as a work of an artist whose name terrorizes the masses- a work too difficult to understand, deemed too boring, obscure and cryptic. Beyond the cinephile community and people interested in his work not everyone today, is eager, to watch a Godard film. The problem does not lie in the work of Jean Luc Godard; the problem lies in the audience; who are unwilling to leave the comfort zone of watching the same old formula picture again and again- for a fear of rejection. Moreover, today the films of Jean Luc Godard is not as playful, witty and closer to the mainstream pictures as it once was, but it still stands as a hallmark.

Freedom is an important proposition, it's in our nature to seek freedom, to refrain and walk away from closed door, cellar or dark room. We like open halls, open spaces and fresh air, but for some unknown reason people love to be chained and be closed when it comes to Cinema. They like being dictated and told what to do, when to do and how to do. The audience is only partially to blame, among the nation of Cinema we have our Woods; which embodies everything that the world's greatest dictators envisioned. And among such a world where the audience is a puppet, with strings attached, who laugh on instruction, cry on instruction and stand together defending the empire, blind folded, mesmerized not knowing what they doing, since the story of their lives are no different from the movies they watch- Closed and Blindfolded. In the mist of it all when Godard films has relegated to the reserve bench, a lot of his movies from the early 60s have remained fresh in the minds of people, beside today it's these movies which are winning Godard new fans.

Bande A Part is once such work from Godard's oeuvre of the early 60s .The only feeling which ran in me while watching the movie was the sense of freedom. How many movies today would give you a feeling of freedom, a sense of ease and sensation of being a witness to the banality of life unfolding with such poeticism? Band a Part embodies everything what Cinema is not today, watching this film made me want to go out and drive a car, take my girl out, study French and simply wander about searching for momentarily escapism. I had a similar feeling of such freedom and the mundane become extraordinaire while watching Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise which officially kicked of the American Independent Wave. There is a certain magic witnessing the "Ideal Chatter" of our lives becoming part of the film, and the representation of " The Mundane" - When the three main characters sit during the course of an English Class, such an activity and its representation allows the film to become poetic; as Godard constructs scene out of the platitude of a classroom on a plane of glances, movements, touches and remarks which infuses a certain energy in the scene, and a simple act of sitting in an English class echoes the drudgery and playfulness which could or could not be part of life, but certainly is part of Cinema and can exist only in Cinema.

The story of Bande A Part could belong to any other film, but the way Godard has used the Dolores Hitchen crime novel and adapted the structure by forming a tapestry of Godardian magic that translates the film into a poetic aphorism, and gives the movie a breath of life. While it's the trajectory of such moments being patched together, that allows the character, the surrounding and the atmosphere to sublime and become one, meaning, not seeming discreet and at the same time being attuned to life. Since irrespective of Godard's Brechtian punctuation of the film narrative through a voice-over, it still hangs on its ability to soak in, or immerse, not so much with the story, but everything else in it: the walk, the talk, the style, the quote, the glance, the smile.

Band of Outsiders as the movie is known in English is a story about Odlie played exceptionally well by Anna Karina, as a matter of fact she is the driving energy and force in the film, not taking away anything form Sami Frey and Claude Brasssuer who play Franz and Arthur respectively, but it's her performance in the movie that gives the movie such sheer energy and motion. Interestingly, the circumstances after which she had to act in the movie was completely opposite to the character she has to portray in the film (she had a miscarriage). Yet, after, such mental trauma and personal crisis, Anna Karina outshines in this film, and at the same time the presence of Sami Frey and Claude Bressuer keep the pace and energy level always in motion.As I aforementioned, Godard does not stay true to the text from which he has adapted this film rather he wanders from quotation to moments which are purely cinematic in its conception and delivery. Godard weaves his influences on which he has grown and piece by piece forms magic out of the things he has learnt or grown up learning, in short making history as he goes. One of the moments is when Odlie, Franz and Arthur sit in a restaurant and remain silent:

The "minute of silence" lasts 36 seconds.

Such pure moments of cinema really refines the image and makes the banal appear special, with so much of sounds and noise part of our daily lives that silence achieves something transcendental at that moment, and especially in the restaurant, it was amazing to see this particular scene unfold. Band of Outsider is filled with such pure moments despite the fact that the film was made way back in 1964. The energy and the enthusiasm of the characters appear so much as part of our current culture irrespective of the fact that we are not growing up quoting films and text, but the energy and zeal certainly remains in the hearts and minds, very much in the lines of Oldie, Franz and Arthur.

Godard as a director has never been concerned about telling a story in the manner we are accustomed to, meaning, allowing us to form the fabula in a direct manner, however, Band of Outsiders has a very simple plot so to say:

Odlie benefactor's have kept money in a safe, which she comes to know, is unlocked, and she tells Franz and Arthur about it- so they plan a heist.

The plot is as simple as that, without sounding complex. When Odlie goes to her house to see her aunt; while Franz and Arthur wait and read the Newspaper, reading aloud the headlines which range from murder to rape and back to murder, shows how much Godard is interested in portraying the society and people as they exist in the environment without going out to recreate fiction, he makes the films closer to documentary a la Cinema Vertie. Jean Luc Godard once said," Cinema is not about abstract ideas, but phrasing of moments" and Band of Outsiders is a movie based on such moments part dull, part vibrant, part cinema, part life, in short pure joy.

One of the most interesting factors while watching Band of Outsider was that I saw this movie with a diverse group of friends, acquaintance and people whom I didn't know. And the overall response was amazing. Even before the movie began not many were ready to watch a Godard film- Fearing they all would go to sleep since the last attempt to show Eloge De Lamour and Notre Musique were unsuccessful, but when Band of Outsider began and till the final credits rolled, the film made people laugh, smile and everyone watched with muted joy and pleasure, the film hasn't aged a bit and was still fresh as it was in 1964. Though the most remarkable thing about the film was that in a group of Engineers, Medical student, Law student, and one student of Mass Communication the film didn't lose it's charm at all, which meant, Godard and his films still had the power to charm and make new fans with his witty dialogues, quotes, likeable heroes and its tinges of reality. When the film finally ended everyone wanted to learn the Madison and dreamt about beating the time in Louvre, at least I knew we would stay one step ahead of Bernardo Bertolucci The Dreamers.