So the cycle of misery will go on...hooray?

steven-222

This movie has fine production values, good actors, moving music...but the love story left me cold. There is zero chemistry between the lovers, and its seems a cheat to make her (otherwise quite desirable) husband impotent.

More to the point...what was the point? After showing us just how miserable WWI was, and how degraded human institutions are (sending young men to die horribly for no good reason), and how pointless love and human relationships are, because life leads inevitably to suffering and death...our transcendent ending comes with the revelation that a child has been born--so hooray, the cycle of misery can just go on and on. This is the standard "uplifting" ending to many a novel and movie, but for me, it just won't cut it any more. The "miracle" of progeny is the exact opposite, no miracle at all but one of the most common things in the world. Two people screwed and created a baby. Big deal.

I respect the integrity and the ambitious nature of this movie--but only up to a point. If you want to bite off a really big theme (human futility), you'll have to take me somewhere else. Making a baby merely plays the hand dealt to us by the Selfish Gene, our only true lord and master. It's not a solution or a resolution to anything, not even a made-up story.

score 5/10

steven-222 11 May 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2610260/