Le Petit Soldat (The Little Soldier) was the second film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, pioneer of the French New Wave of film-making, and after the unexpected success of his first film, Breathless- a banal, poorly acted, and dull attempt at (or satire of?) film noir, this second film was greeted with a swift banning in France- for its portrayal of the similar way Right and Left Wing terror groups behave, and the fact that it had an implicitly anti-war message at a time when the French were trying to hold on to their colonial power in Africa during the Algerian War. Because it took so long to be screened around the world it has generally has been critically either wholly ignored or bitterly dissed. Yet- surprise, surprise- it's a significantly better film in all aspects than the much more lauded Breathless. That said, it's merely a solid film, not even particularly good, but it does display that Godard was not merely out to ape his earlier success the way that many young artists do.
The tale is not particularly complex, as it involves espionage and torture- things that would soon become glamorized in the filmic world of James Bond just a few years hence, but it has a far more naturalistic feel than Breathless does- which was filled with artistic preening and posing, simply because there is no self-conscious effort to 'be natural' in this film. The tale follows Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor- who looks remarkably like a young Harvey Keitel), a young Frenchman who deserted the army, and is living in exile in Geneva, Switzerland. He is narrating the tale from an indeterminate point in the future, so we know he will likely survive the film's ordeal- it's the how and why of the film that will thus be its determining factor in success or failure. Ostensibly he's a reporter, yet he has nebulous ties to some Right Wing terror groups. Because he deserted the army he is blackmailed by them to do criminal 'jobs' for them. They distrust him, suspect him of being a sellout, and order him to kill a man to prove his loyalty. He refuses- as he seems to have a conversion just seconds before doing the deed, and falls out with his comrades. Yet, he is also feared and disdained by Left Wing terrorists from Algeria, who treat him with equal disgust. The sign of a movie with impact is how relevant it can feel to audiences at any give time, and, in this regard, Le Petit Soldat also surpasses Breathless in every way, for the relevance to today's situations in the Middle East is not that much different . Overall, this film has a similar feel to John Cassavetes' work in America at the same time. While Godard's films have often been compared to what came before them- the pulp detective novels of the 1940s and 1950s, I see them as having more in line with what has come later- the graphic novels of the last twenty or so years, for often his deliberately ill composed frames are like comic book characters who convey kinetic energy by reaching out of the frames. Similarly, all of his characters tend to speak in highly stylized ways. We also get many ellipses in the action, with jump cuts. The most effective one is when Bruno escapes from his Left Wing torturers and crashes through a window. In true comic book fashion, he explains it all simply to Monica as if it were just another thing to do between smoking a cigarette and picking up a pound of ham at the corner delicatessen.
Moments like that, and the other pluses of the film, are enough to recommend this film as the work of someone with boldness and talent, who does fail as often as he succeeds, but which augured a brighter future. Only time would reveal which side of Godard would win- the banal noirist obsessive or the inventive and insistent innovator. Le Petit Soldat answers few questions within its frames, and that most important one, too, remains unanswered without its frames.
The tale is not particularly complex, as it involves espionage and torture- things that would soon become glamorized in the filmic world of James Bond just a few years hence, but it has a far more naturalistic feel than Breathless does- which was filled with artistic preening and posing, simply because there is no self-conscious effort to 'be natural' in this film. The tale follows Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor- who looks remarkably like a young Harvey Keitel), a young Frenchman who deserted the army, and is living in exile in Geneva, Switzerland. He is narrating the tale from an indeterminate point in the future, so we know he will likely survive the film's ordeal- it's the how and why of the film that will thus be its determining factor in success or failure. Ostensibly he's a reporter, yet he has nebulous ties to some Right Wing terror groups. Because he deserted the army he is blackmailed by them to do criminal 'jobs' for them. They distrust him, suspect him of being a sellout, and order him to kill a man to prove his loyalty. He refuses- as he seems to have a conversion just seconds before doing the deed, and falls out with his comrades. Yet, he is also feared and disdained by Left Wing terrorists from Algeria, who treat him with equal disgust. The sign of a movie with impact is how relevant it can feel to audiences at any give time, and, in this regard, Le Petit Soldat also surpasses Breathless in every way, for the relevance to today's situations in the Middle East is not that much different . Overall, this film has a similar feel to John Cassavetes' work in America at the same time. While Godard's films have often been compared to what came before them- the pulp detective novels of the 1940s and 1950s, I see them as having more in line with what has come later- the graphic novels of the last twenty or so years, for often his deliberately ill composed frames are like comic book characters who convey kinetic energy by reaching out of the frames. Similarly, all of his characters tend to speak in highly stylized ways. We also get many ellipses in the action, with jump cuts. The most effective one is when Bruno escapes from his Left Wing torturers and crashes through a window. In true comic book fashion, he explains it all simply to Monica as if it were just another thing to do between smoking a cigarette and picking up a pound of ham at the corner delicatessen.
Moments like that, and the other pluses of the film, are enough to recommend this film as the work of someone with boldness and talent, who does fail as often as he succeeds, but which augured a brighter future. Only time would reveal which side of Godard would win- the banal noirist obsessive or the inventive and insistent innovator. Le Petit Soldat answers few questions within its frames, and that most important one, too, remains unanswered without its frames.