Review of Declaration of War (2011) by David U — 12 Jun 2012

Jeremie Elkaim and Valerie Donzelli had already achieved an incredible accomplishment even before the film began: Almost entirely on their own, they both dually directed, wrote, acted in, wrote the music for, and even provided make-up work for this film. A modern "hipster" version of the traditional "Child with terminal illness; whole family helps" weeper drama, Declaration of War is almost entirely the product of these two auteur's efforts. While as said before, the film is already quite an accomplishment, it could be considered to be an even greater success because of the quality of their creation. It's an effective French drama replete excellent performances from its cast, beautiful cinematography (the final scene on a beach is particularly memorable), and both a cool alternative soundtrack and Amelie styled narration which successfully brings the film out of the occasional draggy patch. This is, for the most part, just an overall excellent movie.

Grade: B+.