The Barbarian Invasions Movie Review:


Canadian filmmaker Arcand refuses to call this a sequel to his award-winning 1986 film The Decline of the American Empire, even though it features the same cast playing the same characters 17 years later. It's a sharp comedic drama about people facing unexpected truths about the world and each other. At the centre is Remy (Girard), an aging womaniser who's dying of cancer but hasn't lost any of his wit ... or libido. His high-flying London trader son (Rousseau) comes home to Montreal and his horrified by the state of Canada's health care system, so he starts paying for private treatment. Meanwhile, Remy is surrounded by his loyal exwife (Berryman), two former mistresses (Portal and Michel), various friends, a helpful nurse (Tremblay) and a young woman (Croze) who assists in a rather unconventional way.

Besides being a witty look at life, death and relationships, this is also a startlingly insightful examination of civilisation. The performances are so natural that we believe every character completely, and the dialog crackles with raw honesty and ruthless humour. Arcand takes well-aimed swipes at bureaucracy and government stupidity, carefully highlighting barbarian invasions such as terrorism and drug dealers. He dares to point out that in the great history of mankind, the terrorism of September 11th is insignificant. Although it does mark a serious shift for America, which had always fought others outside its borders (see Viet Nam and the Persian Gulf). But then, Arcand also points out that compared to the rampant genocide of the 19th century, the Holocaust is almost trivial. These are strong points made with remarkable gentleness; he's not trying to belittle anything, merely to put the world into some kind of perspective. As one character observes: History is a series of unforgivable crimes. We need to realise this ... and we need to understand what's really important in life. Strong stuff!

Rich Cline

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