The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Fresh and Exciting

Best movie of this year hands down!

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

I didn't really have a good impression of this picture so I didn't see it even if it won an Oscar for "Best Foreign Film". I expected the usual boring low-budget story of the guy on his deathbed whom family come remembering tearfully the good times of the past in flashback. Personally I preferred the movie French-Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand made in 2008 following that one, "L'Age des Ténèbres", which I've seen at least 4 times at a local cinema. But this one is definitely among the best to come out of the city of Montreal. It's a completely fictional story but even I don't think I should be put to sleep, there's still things I would want to do with my life (the question would be more if any pain I may have to endure would make it worthwhile), somehow I relate to the sick father who accept the inevitability of death and accept it the day his family begin injecting him heroin illegally. I think everybody have to see it to make himself an idea, there's not much more to say without giving away spoilers except that it's really entertaining and there's not much risks of being bored watching it...

Decline can be beautiful, or it can be horrifying. Edward Gibbon's notion was that the Roman Empire was an organic thing and like any other it is born, grows to maturity, declines, and dies. Arcand -- like Remy -- seems to have a historian's eye when viewing the journey of life.I saw this right after watching Decline of the American Empire and find it impossible to separate the two. The characters in the former are sparkplugs, intellectual sponges, heirs of Dionysus. Here, they are seasoned, sound creatures who have achieved peace with age -- except for Remy.Like a true historian, Remy cannot die in peace until he passes his knowledge he's accumulated on to his heir. This is the foundation of civilization: the continual accretion of achievement, the building of a collective consciousness. Remy's life would have been a waste had he died and severed his link to posterity. And his son would have lived an emptier life without lessons learned from his father. When they reconcile, the torch is passed peacefully, almost religiously.This really is a beautiful, touching quilt of characters weaved over, under, around one another. It's rich with narrative color, and the chemistry between the actors is palpable. Most significantly, it captures the beauty and enormity of life, which is a rare thing for a film.

I had no idea what this movie was about prior to renting it. And I almost turned it off upon discovering it was in French! But I am truly glad I persevered. Sebastien, the capitalistically successful son of a socialistic philandering failed professor, invades the pathetic socialized medicine system of his Canadian homeland by cutting through all the bureaucratic crap with good intentions and cold cash.Clearly, those reviewers here who say that right-wingers will hate this movie are 180 degrees off. It clearly demonstrates the ineptitude, failure, and easy corruptibility of the socialist leftist system and denizens thereof.This well-acted, beautifully photographed story confronts a host of controversial issues, from socialized medicine, to illegal drugs, to father-son estrangement, concepts and fear of death, to intellectual snobbery, adultery, and even euthanasia! Definitely must see for the lover of intelligent and literate and subtle comedy-drama. It only failed to get that tenth star because it is so laid back and slick in its approach, it may fail to excite.

Denys Arcand is a wonderful director and this film is also a testimony to his subtle and trenchant style. But ultimately the movie suffers by a seeming obsession with the upper crust and dilettante world of his story where medical care and ease of dying can be bought by a financial trader and where "self revelations" and cosmopolitan discussions are achieved amidst fine wines, fresh truffles, and of course the perennial pate. Throughout the film, I kept feeling it was "My Dinner with Andre" meets "As I Lay Dying"(with veins occasionally laced with heroin). Perhaps Arcand is really saying that the "barbarians" are in fact not the "invaders" but, in fact, quite comfortably at home in Montreal living as insufferable, self-indulgent natives where the seriousness of one's state of mind and physical health appears to be measured by passing up scrambled eggs and fresh truffles.