[LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
screens Thursday June 27th at 7:30 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
The problem with movies that are
completely of their time and place is that they can easily lose much
of their impact and meaning over time and in different locales. For
instance Pierre Etaix's final film, the 1971 documentary LAND OF
MILK AND HONEY, requires some
knowledge of the period of civil unrest that occurred in France in
May of 1968, including the largest general strike ever attempted in
that country. The contrast between this volatile period and the often
blasé attitude of the vacationers Etaix interviews a few moths after
is the crux for much of the film's satirical humor. So if you want to
get the full impact and, like this reviewer, you're not much of a
student of French history, you might want to at least check out
Wikipedia
to get a little background info before watching.
Etaix
visits beaches, campgrounds, and a singing contest among other
locales. At each spot he interviews people young and old with a wide
range of ideological beliefs, asking them their opinions on violence,
eroticism, advertising, and the merits of landing on the moon (fresh
in the news at the time this was shot) among other thing. LAND
OF MILK AND HONEY does a good
job of preserving for posterity some idea of what regular people
thought about these topics, and it's not surprising to find a mix of
responses ranging from ahead of their time to the reactionary.
Visually, the film also records what vacation time was like in late
sixties France, and if what we see was indeed the norm, the crowded
beaches and campgrounds don't look like a whole lot of fun, while the
amateur would-be pop stars at the singing contest show that people
have been deluding themselves about their musical talent long before
American Idol
ever aired.
As
for the satire, even with the proper context it lacks not just the
good nature but the humor Etaix displayed in his previous films. It
feels a bit like one of Sacha Baron Cohen's films in which the joke
is on the unsuspecting people being filmed and interviewed. It's
nowhere near as mean spirited or vulgar (or funny), but the
similarities are there nonetheless. In the end the film's greatest
value is as a time capsule of late sixties France, with much of its
entertainment value either having evaporated over time or simply not
translating well outside of its native country. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars
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