Here and Elsewhere

1976 [FRENCH]

Action / Documentary / War

3
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 994 994

plo palestine plo terrorist group revolution resistance fighter marxism

Plot summary

Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the contrasting footage it shows of the fedayeen and of a French family watching television at home. Originally shot by the Dziga Vertov Group as a film on Palestinian freedom fighters, Godard later reworked the material alongside Anne-Marie Miéville.

Director

Jean-Luc Godard Photo
Jean-Luc Godard

Top cast

Jean-Luc Godard Photo
Jean-Luc Godard as Narrator
Anne-Marie Miéville Photo
Anne-Marie Miéville as Narrator
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
504.57 MB
968*720
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
12 hr 54 min
Seeds 3
936.65 MB
1440*1072
French 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
12 hr 54 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ametaphysicalshark

A remarkable, historically important documentary

Frequently criticized for supposedly being blindly pro-PLO and nearly propagandistic (I suspect by people who haven't actually seen the film, mostly), Jean-Luc Godard's "Dziga Vertov" group shot "Ici et ailleurs" in 1970 in Palestine and Jordan, and no longer a member, Godard later edited the footage into this remarkably interesting short feature.For all the accusations of antisemitism that this film has gotten, it is remarkably critical of much of what the PLO is doing. Of course, in the limited mindset of 'you either support Israel or not', Godard and Anne-Marie Mieville daring to question Israel's practices might be considered antisemitic, but their criticism of the PLO's dogmatic politics are far more frequently used in the film, and perhaps even more biting.The film is far too complex for such simple analysis. Coming shortly after Godard made several of his most difficult (and preachy, and annoying, and worst) films, "Ici et ailleurs" is a remarkable visual essay on the difficulty of documentary film-making, especially political documentaries, and the relationship between images and reality."Ici et ailleurs" is remarkably provocative and exceptionally candid, coming far closer to the heart of the PLO and the people involved than any news report or documentary from the time that I've managed to track down. In that sense it is especially important for history buffs, but not for those looking for education on the matter as this film assumes the viewer has full knowledge of what was going on at the time.The final ten minutes or so are especially interesting, and all in all "Ici et ailleurs" is unquestionably thought-provoking and not at all trite in any way in its approach and execution. It is never self-important, always asking questions and never stating anything outside of the guarded opinions of the filmmakers (who present their opinions as opinions and not fact), the film achieves the sort of lack of manipulation that few documentaries do. I doubt this film will ever see a big DVD release, especially not in North America, but it must be seen by as many as possible, if not for its quality (which is certainly debatable) then for its unique candidness.9.5/10
Reviewed by Quinoa1984 6 / 10

monotonous poetry but it does take its own making into question as it goes along

I was about ready to yell Hades at the TV in the first several minutes of Here and Elsewhere (or Ici et ailleurs): a pro-Palestine documentary? Take down the Zionists? I had heard before of Godard and his collaborator Anne Marie Mieville being anti-semitic, but this was ridiculous. Really? Calling terrorists 'revolutionaries'? Maybe there is no line to cross and every terrorist is a revolutionary, to a degree or another on their subjectivity. But then an audience member has to bring their own subjectivity, too, and the argument gets struck up and gets heated. While I can despise Godard personally for this and other instances in his career where one saw his distaste towards Jews, it's hard for me to also not acknowledge some level of artistic integrity on his end. Or maybe not. Maybe he is a damn fraud who gets by on counterfeit intellectualism and repetitive editing to swing past his ideas.But then I do have to give credit where it's due: he did make a documentary hybrid here that is somewhat more lucid than other indecipherable docs of his ilk. Maybe it's because he did try and make in the early 70s a decidedly and truly pro-Palestinian militant documentary- hence the access his cameras got in to ask questions- but after a motorcycle accident and the dissolution of his "filmmaking collective" based on the filmmaker Dziga Vertov, he had to contemplate things. While Here and Elsewhere has the typical Godard flaws of being boredom and complacent with semantic BS (and that calculator, come again?) there is a sense that Godard and Mieville are trying to criticize themselves, and the very nature of the image. There's even a moment when Godard talks about being around a group of "revolutionaries" some months before the Black September attack, and says it was tragic nothing could've been said, to which Mieville rebuts "You, could've said something." Perhaps, if only for the self-reflexiveness and an attitude that is more towards an analysis of image and response, of contrasting images of Nixon and Hitler and the holocaust and the whole "theater" and "actors" taking part in the games of death, Here and Elsewhere does have a sensibility that is about trying to make a film first, politics second. Not only did I not agree with the politics of the doc, it made me angry, as angry as I've ever been watching a Godard film. This mixed with some stretches of boredom made it far less than what others have praised the film to worth. And yet, at the same time, it is a significant and usually watchable work from a director who is atoning not so much for his beliefs but for not taking into account the memory of image and its cost of relying so heavily on the present-tense. It's an uneasy but satisfying blend of propaganda and self-conscious "cinema" cinema.
Read more IMDb reviews

No comments yet

Be the first to leave a comment