intimate enemies

Okay this may be a little late, the French Film Festival 2008 was on from 5 - 19 March in Sydney.

Hmmm... maybe not too late cos it's still on or going to be on in Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide. Check out the schedule here.

I went to Paddington with a friend last week, a desperate last minute attempt to try to catch at least one film. Top on my list of to-watch films was Paris - completely sold out way way way way in advance. Dazzling cast, emo storyline, what do you expect. I still wanna watch this, maybe I'll rent the DVD or something.

Then it was suggested we watch The Dinner Guest. Given we only had two days before the festival ended in Sydney and we were only able to make it on one of the two days, we really didn't have many options. I thought, comedy... shouldn't go too wrong.

But in our after-work rush and the stress we experienced trying to find a park, we got to the wrong theatre and got tickets to whatever show we could get our hands on. So we caught Intimate Enemies. A war show. How many people are even aware of the Algerian war of independence (1954 - 1962)? I note with interest that it was only officially acknowledged in 1999 that a "war" had taken place (official terminology used for this founding event of Algerian history was "public order operation").

It was a sad show. Well, which war movie is happy? But there was a small part that made me secretly chuckle inside. These two groups of soldiers started firing at each other, injuring many and killing some, before realising that they're fellow comrades. I related that to the everyday work life - when the top screws up, the men die.

I love watching war shows and reading war stories. Lots of lessons to learn. But they sometimes affect me too much emotionally - I recall myself having nightmares of my family being massacred and crying non-stop even after I woke after watching Saving Private Ryan in 1997; and how I looked up to Captain Winters and cried and laughed with all in the Easy Company through the entire Band of Brothers series in 1999; and how envious I was of Joshua in Life is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) for having such a great father.

I wouldn't mind re-watching Band of Brothers again. Been wanting to do that for a long time. Just need to find the time.