Humanite

 

 

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Humanite is a film NOT to be missed for sure. Despite being by far the worst movie I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot of losers), Humanite grasps the essence of a typical French culture, and holds on masterfully. The protagonist, Pharon de Winter, and his detective boss accurately portray police as they really are --- slow, apathetic, and ugly? The chilling touch of Pharon's mucus which hangs from his lower lip as he goes on a long bike ride throughout the country shows how the French are able to protray the grittiness of the world, a notable quality. Speaking of grittiness, the gratuitous shots of a severed part of the female anatomy (you know which) heightened the integrity of the French film makers and caused me to lean over the side of my couch to respectively vomit into a pail. Only a film like Humanite could make someone do that . . . that's for absolute sure. And only a film like Humanite could show the trouble one has when choking on an apple. I felt Pharon's pain as he emitted a hideous noise from his esophogus in his attempt to eject a chewed up piece of an apple. I felt it approximately five times. And since I'm speaking of pain, the director's display of Pharon as a lonely, weak, homosexual, and pathetic loser were captured in his attempt to play piano . . . and hum to it at the same time. Yep, there sure isn't a movie like Humanite that has all of that in it. And I guarantee that there's no movie ever made that showed a furious man (Pharon in front of the mayor's building towards the end of the film) appearing as though he just developed a thyroid condition. Yes, sir . . . Humanite has it all. Love, sex, murder, anger, disgusting shots of female anatomy, pointless conversations, bike rides, detectives, trains, cars, scenes of a person choking on an apple, scenes of a person trying his hand at piano, and of course, Pharon de Winter. After watching this movie for the first time, a rather horrible taste of bolus and something else really bad enveloped my mouth and caused me to gag. I then immediately rushed here to write this up. If you haven't seen Humanite yet, you need to . . . it will change you, that's a guarantee.

Not for those who like action films, not for children and not a good first date film, Humanite is nonetheless a subtle masterpiece that molds the putty of murder mystery into a psychological thriller of infinite pathos. This Cannes winner begins with a disturbing shot of a violated 11 year old who is murdered. Then it founders in the minimalist, even nonplot aftermathh of this horror. A subplot of an erotic crush, repressed homosexuality, and a work strike follow as we follow this colorful noir about a touched superintendent (lead detective) who is the great grandson of a religious painter who paints, among other things, beautiful little girls, It then seems to go nowhere as the detective, who lives with his mother after losing his own child and woman, founders about in the sort of police activity that is more like the bureaucratic incompetence of most police cases than the plot twists of a murder mystery and thriller. In the end however we realize that this is far more than a successful whodunit. The lack of action is motivated by a world-weary denial that has religious overtones of the fall and indicts us all for complicity in what might be called reality's constitutive crime against innocence, symbolized by the opening rape murder and the gap between trying to comprehend it and the necessary but ultimately insupportable thought that the forces that led to it are absolutely alien to those observing. Not for the squeamish, and yet more so perhaps than life. The solution to the crime and the ability to look at ourselves are here inseparable-suggesting a symbolic meaning beyond the opening horror of this haunting and strangely realistic French film.

It's just bad. Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad. No good. Horrible. Awful. It reeks of pretention. It's boring. Slow. Indecipherable. Bad bad bad.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Dreary, yet interesting in retrospect
In a small town in northern France the police superintendent, Pharaon De Winter, is working on a recent murder and rape of an 11-year old girl. Read more

Published on Jan 23 2004 by Kim Anehall

2.0 out of 5 stars The daily grind goes on..........forever
This film takes you to a non-descript working class town in Northern France where the local police "superintendent", something like a detective rank, has the murder of an 11 year... Read more

Published on Dec 27 2003 by John Lease

1.0 out of 5 stars Indulgent Tripe
An abysmally grotesque film, at once boring and horrifying. Can child rape and murder be examined in film - of course - but the question is of appropriate representation. Read more

Published on Aug 20 2002 by JHK

4.0 out of 5 stars So close and so faraway from perfect at once
Pharoan de Wilder, the police superintendant of a small French city between Lille and Paris and protagonist in Dumont's "L'humanité," is far, far from the gruff detectives... Read more

Published on Feb 28 2002 by Jonathan Rimorin

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay Away from this movie
This movie involves child-rape, and opens with a shot of multilated female genitalia. And to make matters worse, it is boring. Avoid at all costs.

Published on Feb 7 2002 by Austin C. Beeman

5.0 out of 5 stars hypnotic and sad
you have to approach this film like a prayer..its not something you can just sit down and watch expecting what the description says on the back

Published on Oct 25 2001 by ryannnnnn

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 Stars.....Joe Friday would not be happy
Pharaon de Winter (Emmanuel Schotte), the main character of Bruno Dumont's "Humanite" is so full of angst and self loathing that he is rendered almost speechless and... Read more

Published on Sep 17 2001 by MICHAEL ACUNA

1.0 out of 5 stars Slower than growing grass. In the desert.
The protagonist (if you can call him that) is played by Mount Rushmore. That's how much expression his face is capable of. Read more

Published on Sep 15 2001 by Bobby R. Treat

1.0 out of 5 stars A piece on ...
I rented this movie based upon winning the Cannes film award in 1999. Surprisingly it has received many favorable reviews from critics. This movie fails on every level. Read more

Published on Aug 27 2001 by Gregory J Pubols

1.0 out of 5 stars I MUST BE MISSING SOMETHING HERE...
After reading several favorable reviews of this film, and hearing numerous folks rave about it locally, I finally located a copy available to rent on dvd and checked it out for... Read more

Published on Jun 4 2001 by Larry L. Looney

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