Purely Joyful Movie!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

i'm not a pseudo-intellectual trying to feel good watching intellectual black and white french movies. I actually want to be entertained. One guy is attacked by surprised by the other guy that arrived in a motorcycle and stopped 2 meters behind him? Need to say more? Maybe a hybrid motorcycle? Did Elon Musk financed this movie? Reading the synapse this scene is catalyst of the ensuing plot of the movie. If a scene of this importance is treated like this...An it's not like until that point, the movie did anything to make you keep watching, the premise has been used and abused. So yes, this is the review of the fist 13 minutes of the movie. If i want to be entertained with bad writing and nonsense i watch so blockbuster action movie.

1st watched 6/14/2009 – 6 out of 10 (Dir- Benoit Delpine & Gustave Kervern): Quirky little road movie comedy about an unlikely pair who definitely don't like each other at the beginning of the movie but then get injured in a tractor while fighting each other and are forced into a similar situation. They are both crippled and no longer have much of a life to live so they take to the road and just happen to hook-up together for the journey. They each have a separate destination but somehow they are dragged along together many times just because they are both crippled and people mistake them as friends. The movie has very little dialogue and it's humor really comes out of the situations they are put in and what they do in those situations. The humor is definitely dark, for example ---- one big laugh comes when one of them steals an elderly persons' electric wheelchair(it's funny because we know they are just trying to survive any way they can and they aren't used to this). There is no music background in the movie so you pay attention to every sound and every camera movement which is very compelling and very un-Hollywood like. The slow moving story is OK, because the characters keep our attention and we pay attention to everything because of they way the movie is made. One character is a motocross enthusiast so we trek to some of their races and the other character doesn't appear to care much for anything until we find out what he cares about at the very end. I won't spoil the ending but it has to do with the manufacturer's of the tractor that caused the injury. The ironic ending is a brilliant bookend to a very unique and slow-moving comedy. The quiet movie will keep your attention and give you a few laughs so it's definitely a worthwhile view if you get the chance at seeing this French piece of cinema.

A commuter and a farmhand get in one another's way often, causing tensions and frustrations between them. When the farmhand causes the commuter to miss his train, lose his job and arrive home early to find his wife having an affair, the commuter and the farmhand get into a fight around the farm equipment and end up badly injured – both ending up paralysed from the waist down. Seemingly stuck with one another, they set out on a trip to Finland to seek out the manufacturer of the equipment that put them in this state.This sat on my harddrive for several months before I got around to watching it and, if you read the plot summary and know that it is a black & white and in French, you will perhaps understand why. Unsure of what to expect I settled down to it – thinking it unfair that I neglect it in favour of "easier" American blockbusters etc. What I found was an unspectacular but clever look at how disabled people are treated and viewed. The road trip aspect is not much more than a frame to allow this to happen and indeed even the conclusion is making the point in an amusing way. In regards narrative then it doesn't really satisfy because of this being the weaker aspect but I found the look at disability to be enough to cover this.The writer and director do well to avoid sentimentality or preaching and they are very even handed across the telling. We see people being overly kind, people ignoring them, people picking them and so on. Fairly we also seeing them taking advantage of goodwill and being just as big a pair of jerks as able-bodied people can be. It sounds simple to say it but the film does do a good job with this theme and, although not hilarious, it did produce some dark laughs along the way. Writer and director Delépine and de Kervern do a good job in the two lead roles and also work very well with a limited budget.Overall then not a perfect film but a cleverer one that I initially gave it credit for. The narrative is not a lot more than a frame to allow the dark comic look at the treatment of the two characters but in this regard it works well enough while the examples of treatment are fair and well delivered.

AALTRA (Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine - France/Belgium 2004)A rare combination of real-life drama and black humor, this low-budget film from Belgium is a treat from start to finish. Shot in b/w Scope, almost every frame of this refreshingly original road-movie on wheelchairs seems to contain a delightful comic set-up, greatly enhanced by its grainy 16mm b/w photography.The film kicks off in a rural area south of Brussels, where Gus and Ben (played by the writer-directors, K/Vern and Delépine) are neighbors. Gus is a farmer and spends most of his time daydreaming on his tractor. Ben is a commuter, who has trouble at his work in the city and with his marriage. Both are very unhappy with their lives but most off all, the two men work on each other's nerves. One day, as Ben hurries to get to work on the small road leading to their house, Gus willfully obstructs the way with his tractor. Ben climbs on Gus' tractor and starts a fight, part of the machinery falls on top of the men and the next day they wake up in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. Gus decides to head for Finland in order to claim indemnity from the tractor company, named Aaltra. What follows is a road-movie on wheelchairs through Europe in order to reach their goal.Part of what makes it all so strangely endearing is the fact that the two men are in a wheelchair, which makes a perfect excuse for some comic situations. Every simple thing they do, from trying to get money or food to innocent remarks made to strangers, becomes hilarious because of the way everyday people tend to react to the disabled. Due to the almost universal belief in the goodness of disabled people in general, Gus and Ben are able to shamelessly take advantage of even the most helpful and friendly persons they encounter. The fact that the two men aren't in the least sympathetic is exactly what gives the film it's edge. They remain malevolent hostile bastards, just as hostile against each other as against the outside world they have to cope with.Considering it's minimal budget, the cinematography is great. Beautifully shot in grainy black-and-white, with many extreme long shots, many of them without dialog. And K/Vern and Delépine are talented comedians (especially in silent comic expressions), but they somehow managed (or got the right people to do it for them) to give the film a real cinematographic touch. A rare achievement. Aki Kaurismäki and Benoît Poelvoorde appear in the film in small roles, although the latter is tough to spot. You have to be familiar with his legs or voice to recognize him.Camera Obscura --- 9/10