Daily Movie Rec 7/9/2023 (Double Feature)
War Requiem (1989)
"By his dead smile, I knew we stood in hell."
Directed by: Derek Jarman
Cinematography by: Richard Greatrex
Country: United Kingdom
Plot:
A visual interpretation of composer Benjamin Britten's famed orchestral piece, itself inspired by the poems of World War I soldier Wilfred Owen, who died during the war's final week.
Reasons to watch:
Jarman weaves staged retellings of Owen's life with experimental mixed-media photography and archival footage of wars old and new to create a novel and searingly anti-war postmodern genre amalgamation of the biopic, documentary, war film, and musical. It's my least favorite work from the arthouse iconoclast as I don't enjoy the music very much, and some of the war footage is unbelievably graphic (I can deal with the goriest fictional gore effects all day, every day but put actual injuries and death in front of me and I'm tapping out immediately), but the creative endeavor earns my respect.
The Criterion Channel/Kanopy
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