At some point in my life I was hanging out with a Greek critic who was so kind as to take me with him at the free screenings for critics. I saw many, many movies in that way. Practically I was watching everything that was coming out in theaters before everybody else. There were a lot of films that made an impression on me with how interesting or how awful they were. That's how I saw for the first time Dogville (the only worthy movie from Lars Von Trier and a great film), that's how I saw the first Pirates Of The Caribbean and that's how I saw Werckmeister Harmonies by Bela Tarr (a film that I hated passionately, finding it pretentious and exhausting). But the movie that made the biggest impression on me was a movie from Canada by the unknown to me back then writer-director Denys Arcand.
The Barbarian Invasion was clearly the most glorious and human moment that I saw at that period. The movie made such a huge impression on me that I saw it two more times when it came out in the theaters. And it stays a movie that to whoever have I recommended it thanked me afterwards warmly. The movie is a fantastic, unique balance between comedy and drama. You get tears of joy and laughter of sadness. The social criticism and the political views of the movie are nothing less than great and the movie mixes miraculously good the family and friends drama, with the sharp comedy. It's quite rare for me to find myself so utterly attached to a movie. Because it is a fact that the movie literally grabs you and takes you on a fantastic journey, among gloriously manufactured realistic characters. That is definitely what many filmmakers are trying to make with their movies but fail due to lack of content and substance. The Barbarian Invasions is such a clever, brainy and thought-provoking movie that you want to watch it again and again just to inhale that utter maturity that the film features. I have seen many comedic dramas in my life, but no other ever conquered my heart so deeply.
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