Review of Lacombe, Lucien (1974) by Richard D — 05 Feb 2011

This is a good movie, perhaps - a very good movie, but really sad.

According to Wikipedia, film critic for The New York Times Vincent Canby said that film center character, "must remain forever mysterious, forever beyond our sympathy". While there hardly could be any sympathy indeed, I don't see much of mystery in Lucien. Louis Malle showed us enough to see this undeveloped but sadistic character. He is not hopeless, he could become closer to norm, but on the other side, at this age person must already responsible for himself. Lucien Lacombe fails to be responsible.

A reviewer at IMDB said something about "innocence corrupted by war". Oh, no. It's not innocence, it's a brutal under-development. War didn't teach Lucien to kill birds. And I hope a reviewer would never encounter such "innocent" luciens on his way. I served in Russian army and I saw such characters...