Series/Festivals

Week of December 15, 2004

A A A Comments (0) Wednesday, Dec 15 2004

Notre Musique (Our Music) Jean-Luc Godard. (unrated) Mimicking the structure of Dante's Inferno, French writer/director Jean-Luc Godard divides his contemplation of human nature and society into three unequal parts: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise (with the longest stay in Purgatory, the briefest in Heaven). The discursive story uses a Sarajevo book conference as the linchpin for eclectic encounters among a French-Jewish journalist working in Israel, a Palestinian poet and an array of political and philosophical spokespersons from Godard himself to Native Americans. Carefully chosen, grim footage and powerful photos of deadly conflicts define Hell, while Purgatory examines contemporary struggles punctuated by musical interludes and digressions to city streets. The duality of human nature and the continuum of cruelty to kindness make Our Music a sobering, insightful contemplation of the world we perpetuate. In English and in French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew and Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles. Screens at 7 p.m. Friday, December 17, through Sunday, December 19, in the Moore Auditorium on the campus of Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves. Call 314-968-7487 for more information. (Diane Carson)