The year 1968 was marked by political unrest not only in the United States, where rage over the Vietnam War was boiling over, but also in other nations. Brazilian filmmaker João Moreira Salles here draws on amateur films—combined with news footage—to document the disorder in three countries. His major focus is on France, where student demonstrations threatened the Fourth Republic of Charles de Gaulle. Salles concentrates on one of the student leaders, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, but also points out how Cohn-Bendit and the movement he helped found were to some extent co-opted by advertising agencies that not only built campaigns based on the students’ program but even created some of their supposedly grassroots slogans. Salles contrasts this material with happy home movies taken in France by his own mother when the family lived there. Salles also shows underground footage from Czechoslovakia, where the progressive "Prague Spring" was quashed by Soviet military intervention, and from his own homeland, where a military junta suppressed dissent. In addition, the filmmaker considers the repression associated with the Maoist cultural revolution in China, which he once again compares with footage shot by his mother during a visit to the country—scenes that seem oblivious to the cruel reality of the period. Somberly narrated by Salles, In the Intense Now not only offers a glimpse into the hopes and failures reflected in the popular dissent of the late ‘60s, but also captures the blithe disregard of many who witnessed it. Extras include six short films (including one by late writer/artist Chris Marker). Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
In the Intense Now
(2017) 127 min. In Portuguese w/English subtitles. DVD: $29.98 ($398 w/PPR from www.icarusfilms.com). Icarus Films Home Video (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 4
In the Intense Now
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