Rating: 
Summary: Death of a bon vivant
Review: Infrequently, if at all, does a film for general release revolve around normal, natural death, i.e. one not brought on by fanged space aliens, world-renting cataclysms, wild gunfights, or some other Tinseltown special FX. Hollywood script writers should walk though any cemetery sometime. Not since the 2001 tour de force, WIT, starring Emma Thompson, has the topic been intelligently portrayed. Now comes THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, a powerful French Canadian film of albeit misleading title.London investor Sebastien (Stephane Rousseau) is summoned home to Quebec by his mother, Louise (Dorothee Berryman) to attend the approaching death of his father, Remy (Remy Girard). Father and son have been long estranged - ever since Remy and Louise divorced. Remy, an outspoken Professor of History and a self-described "sensuous socialist", has spent his life indulging in wine, women, song, and learned conversation. Especially women. The reunion shows little promise of succeeding, especially after a stormy shouting match in Remy's bleak hospital room that leaves the audience facetiously asking, "That went well, don't you think?" But, after Louise reminds her son of a paternal love long forgotten, then filial duty and guilt compel Sebastien to use his considerable wealth to arrange an easier transition for Old Dad by improving the conditions of his hospitalization, and to gather around his treasured friends, colleagues, and mistresses. The "star" is Remy, who, at the end of his life, contemplates and comes to accept the final sum of it. This exercise would be thought-provoking enough in itself, but writer/director Denys Arcand also interweaves into the plot such prickly subjects as socialized medicine, euthanasia, and the use of illegal drugs to ease terminal medical conditions. About universal health care as practiced in Canada, in the bureaucratic, union-controlled, and overcrowded web of which he is now entangled, Remy stubbornly rants that since he voted for it, he certainly wasn't going to run off to the United States for something less squalid. Every role in this Cannes Film Festival award-winner is excellently played. Best Actress went to Marie-Josee Croze as Nathalie, the heroin-addicted daughter of one of Remy's ex-mistresses, who is recruited by Sebastien to obtain the banned substance to ease his father's suffering. Remy's lust for life has a profound effect on the young woman. THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS is a film to be viewed by everyone who'll one day die. Unfortunately, the majority of moviegoers will stay away, opting instead for the mindless bread-and-circus fare habitually doled out into the cinematic trough by the major studios. Shame! The last twenty or so minutes of the film, which are set at a lakeside cabin, contain some of the most poignant and emotionally powerful moments I've seen recently on the Big Screen. Lucky is the person who can say to those gathered around his/her deathbed: "Sharing with you this modest life has been a delight". Note: This film was seen at a pre-release screening sponsored by the distributor, Miramax.
Rating: 
Summary: Invading Barbarians and Dying Sinners
Review: Issues and complexity of life in western society at the turn of the 21st century are expressed very poignantly and emphatically in this Canadian-French collaboration, winner of Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Cesar for Best French Film of 2003. Remy (Remy Girard), once a womanizing, radically socialist college teacher, is dying. His well-off, pragmatic businessman son Sebastien (Stephane Rousseau) tries to gather to his would-be deathbed all the people his father loved (or made love to) in his life. At first sight thematically similar to father-son late reunion of Tim Burton's 2003 "Big Fish", director and screenwriter Denys Arcand covers a much wider spectrum of issues in "The Barbarian Invasions", and he does it with amazing ease and elegance. The film thus abounds with plenty of matters to think about, from money and unions, to drugs and family, to sex and religion. It does not judge his characters, but, it nevertheless doesn't try to hide there's something wrong with a world where jetliners hit skyscrapers and people must resort to euthanasia to relieve suffering of their loved ones.
Rating:
Summary: An Invasion That Should Suceed
Review: It is a great shame that in English speaking countries, foreign language films languish in art house theatres and rarely garner a wider audience. "The Barbarian Invasions", based in Quebec and using French for most dialogue, falls into this category despite winning an Oscar for best foreign language film. "The Barbarian Invasions" covers the lingering death of Remy and the efforts of his often estranged son to repair past damage and encourage a final meeting with his friends. In the process, the father and son become reconciled and learn humility from each other. There is the evident truth that blood is thicker than water. Remy's friends are an eclectic group although they can all be described as intellectuals except his son who, despite receiving a good education, reads no books and prefers video games for enjoyment. This fact notwithstanding, the son is a successful investment banker based in London who is prepared to spend the time and money to ensure that his father's finals days are rich and comfortable. To all readers of this review, please do not be discouraged by the fact that the film is sub-titled. To dismiss a film for this reason is to deny access to a raft of great films. "The Barbarian Invasions" is one such film.
Rating:
Summary: The Decline and Fall of Quebecois Utopia
Review: It was rather surprising to learn that this anti-socialist movie won a Foreign Film Oscar. Denys Arcand is well-know for his biting satire of Québécois society, against the clergy in Jésus of Montréal and against Québécois politics in this movie. Invasions Barbares is a sequel to the famous Le Déclin de l'Empire Américan (The Decline of the American Empire), where he philosophizes on the end of the American hegemony based on history and some fast-and-dirty sociology.
In this movie, the Fall of the American Empire is represented by the WTC attack, but the bulk of the movie is not concerned with the United States but with Quebec. In this, Rémy (Rémy Girard), the history professor with a high libido, is dying of cancer and his previous relationships give him no solace. Everyone from Déclin comes back to support him in his hard times, including his estrangled son Sébastien (Stéphane Rousseau, a humourist who plays this serious role with great talent). He's become a resourceful and prosperous man of finance, and uses his money to bribe hospital officials to give his father his own floor, and dips his toe in the underworld to get heroin to alleviate his father's pain.
Rémy admits that his life has been rather pointless, and that the social utopia proposed by Québecois intellectuals has failed. This point is reinforced by the dingy and corrupt (but unfortunately realistic) portrayal of the health care system in Québec, and the failure of the War on Drugs. The movie is far from being all drama : a commentator noted that it was not as much about death as it was about life. He also calls his son Sébastien one of the barbarians invading utopia, a saviour of the state in which he (and Québec) has placed himself.
There is still a lot of talking in this movie, like in Déclin. Everyone is there to put their two cents in. But at least this time the discussion is not the only proeminent part of the movie, which makes it more of an interesting piece rather than a long tedium.
Rating:
Summary: The Malcontent
Review: Remy Girard is a sarcastic, portly, middle-aged-man, dying of cancer in an over-crowded Montreal hospital: seemingly a victim of his own rancid bile and Canada's medical/health system. But whereas most men in his predicament would have no one around who cares enough to visit, Remy has family, ex-wives, ex-mistresses and school friends who love and care for him and who gather around him to bid him a fond farewell. And therein lies the dichotomy of Denys Arcand's "Les Invasions Barbares": a bilious, learned, opinionated man and professor who has somehow miraculously touched the lives of many of those around him; who are there for him when he needs them.
What is so rich about this film is that all of the supporting characters have such particular and vivid lives and Arcand makes it a point to stop and examine them ever so briefly yet succinctly. These are not stock characters but fully developed people with the imprimatur of humanity and emotionality. And though Arcand doesn't have much time or many scenes to make these lives real, he does so with just the right amount of incisive screen time.
"Les Invasions Barbares" is not only a family story though; it is also an indictment of Canada's Health System and its Unions. Remy's wealthy son Sebastien is able to secure a private room for Remy through bribery of not only the Union Hospital workers but of its Administrators as well ("We're not in the Third World" she says as she greedily eyes the cash). This is played for comedy but it also has the sting of reality and social commentary.
"Les Invasions Barbares" is ultimately about Remy's life, how he has led it and how he deals with the consequences of his actions. He's at St.Peter's door and now he must qualify as well as quantify his long life. All told, Remy comes out a winner because, despite his crusty exterior, he loved and was loved. And that pretty much makes him a winner in anyone's book.
Rating:
Summary: As Satisfying a Film as Ever Made - Revised Review!
Review: THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS is a miracle movie. As conceived and directed by Denys Arcand this film is a brilliantly entertaining story, full of hilarious dialogue and situations, full of intellectual stimulation, brilliant metaphors and similes, full of probing philosophy, while standing as the finest examination of our society as it stands at the moment. The beauty of the film is that for all of the intellectual wealth it contains, it never bogs down with cerebral weightiness. The mood is consistently entertaining: the infinite messages contained are left as after burn.
Remy (and indelible characterization by Remy Girard) has lived a life of sexual freedom, intellectual pursuits (he is a Professor of History and defender of free thinking), and seems to have placed his family and wife in the periphery. Suddenly faced with a diagnosis of a rampantly aggressive and untreatable cancer, he rages against the world that no longer holds his tenets of civilization dear: he faces death having no legacy to leave the world he entered. His ex-wife notifies his worldly and wealthy Baby-Boomer generation son in his important office in London to return home, despite the fact that the son sees little point in rushing back to the father who was never a father to him. The son Sebastien (in a sophisticated, engrossing performance by Stephane Rousseau) flies to Montreal and, in his manner of control, takes over, planning the care of this 'shameful father' in a manner that allows him to provide the best amenities while putting more emotional distance from his father. Money talks, and after Sebastien drives him to the USA for the best of scans and opinions only to hear that Remy will not follow-up by entering a US Medical Center, Remy is moved to a deserted floor of the hospital (grandly redecorated and staffed by Sebastien's conniving way with money bribes). Sebastien gathers the wildest assortment of Remy's friends, mistresses, and political/intellectual oddballs and gives Remy everything he could ask for - even satellite conversation with Remy's yachting-on-the-seas daughter. When the disease advances and the accompanying pain encroaches, Sebastien even arranges for heroin by coercing the addicted daughter of one of Remy's mistresses to supply the need. Eventually as the situation changes, Sebastien arranges for the entire entourage to move to a beautiful house by a lake outside Montreal and there the group eats, drinks, philosophizes, and entertains their old friend. At this point Sebastien and Remy are alone with their personal histories and disappointments and regrets and it is the playing out of how this is resolved that is the utter magic of this magnificent film. Though the ending of the film is implied from the outset, to spoil the final moments by revealing the actual moments of the story would be a disservice to the viewer
An added attraction on the DVD (in French and English with subtitles) is a filmed dinner with the entire cast (and to a person, this is a cast of gifted, virtuosic actors), discussing the movies, their characters, and more importantly looking at the Montreal that was the dream of the future when all of these actors were young and idealistic and now faces a stagnation and void that each sees as a threat to the future. These are articulate actors and their words and thoughts are intensely sensitive and informative. This added feature adds yet more depth in accompaniment to the film. THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS is a film to purchase for your private collection, a film to return to often as a reminder that living our lives as individual sanctities is the only way we will be able to maintain 'civilization' in this era of instant gratification and disregard for the past. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ON EVERY LEVEL!
Rating:
Summary: AMIDST IDEOLOGICAL CHITCHAT, A FULL-BODIED ODE TO LIFE
Review: The Barbarian Invasions is nothing if not a chatty movie, almost every character is well developed and most of what is said is amusing without the self-satisfied piety or strenuous jokiness of garden variety Hollywood flicks.
A man on his death bed, Remy, invites all his friends and family hoping in such a reunion to pass on his pearls of wisdom, and to reconcile all that has remained undone or that shouldn't have been done.
Woven around this seemingly simple frame are many relationships, all explored richly and with fluid rhythm, and some fabulous dialogue veering around insightful ideologies.
For instance, Remy and his son wage what seems to be a lifelong argument, the young man defending his free-market values, faith in technological progress and ascetic lifestyle, and Remy extolling the virtues of socialism and epicurean excess. I was surprised to see some footage of 9/11 in support for the negatives that accompany American-style capitalism.
The title of the film may derive from the bloody history of mankind and all the 'isms' that we've dabbled in (marxism, leninism, etc) -- all of which are talked about in a pseudo-intellectual but riveting manner among these friends -- but there is an unmistakable undercurrent of the ultimate barbaric invasion: time, which wastes us without answering the questions of our intellect and spirit. Remy concedes in anguish at one point, "I haven't found a meaning. I have to keep searching".
The mood is not always this despondent though, it shifts effortlessly between defiant exuberance and wistful contemplation without ever being mawkish. To an Asian like myself, the concept of having many women, all in presence of each other and not minding it, may be a bit too French, but perhaps the way we get introduced to our protagonist's many infatuations is so warm that it'd be difficult to think of it as anything other than totally sweet.
For all its urbanity and cultural contradictions of global capitalism, this marvelously humane film ultimately tugs at the core of what matters most to us and peppers it with some broad and devilishly funny chitchat. Couldn't recommend it highly enough, buy it! You'll be seeing it more than once.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding
Review: The best movie I have seen in years!! Can anyone help me learn the name of the final song?
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended.
Review: This film is about the growth in understanding that happens as one grows older, the reconciliation with one's own disappointments in life and in the condition of the world, and the happiness returned to you from the people you loved. The hero is a talkative former professor who continues to enjoy pontificating as he grows more ill. Some Amazon critics complained this film is full of pseudo-intellectuals. But that is partly who the hero is, the particular kind of human being he happened to be. I generally detest pseudo-intellectuals in films and especially in person. The first 5 minutes of this film had me worried but soon I found it surprisingly did not take away from the film. I highly recommend this film for the characters and for the universal human experiences it showed. The little mini-education on the reality of nationalized healthcare is another reason in itself for Americans to watch this movie. As much as I, as an American, loath our current health insurance system, this film showed me jumping to nationalized healthcare is definitely the proverbial frying pan after the fire. The fact that I lived in another "rich" industrialized country that has nationalized healthcare gave me firsthand knowledge of how bad it can be. Pretty damn bad. Our hero had a millionaire son who loved him; most people don't. For those Americans who are considering watching this film but don't want to hear a bunch of anti-American crap, you're in luck. This film had US scenes but they were realistic. No love of the US was shown but that also is reality since this is a French-Canadian film. I think Americans don't mind when films take shots at us but they better be fair ones. I wouldn't even call these shots. They showed reality. Just one very brief anti-Bush remark, but that's a Canadian viewpoint and a common American one too.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as implied
Review: This film was supposed to be about a dying father reconciling with his estranged son. I didn't get that. Instead I got a father who strikes up a relationship with a drug addict. What happens to the son? After he tries to make his father's life as comfortable as possible, he disappears into the background until the melodramatic ending. If the screewriter/director had focused more on the father and son's relationship DURING the film instead of the father and drug addict's relationship then the ENDING when the father and son come together would've made more sense. This film was not as it was implied to be, and for the life of me--I don't understand how it won the Oscar. That should've gone to "Osama" instead. I also would've given it to "L'Auberge Espagnole."
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