Godard's Banned Film (The film we should have seen)

Throughout this course on French New Wave cinema we have mentioned Godard's banned second film, LE PETIT SOLDAT (1960- The Little Solider) a number of times in discussion of the work of various new wave directors as well as Godard's own work. Well, I for one would like to state that Godard's LE PETIT SOLDAT is a major achievement in his career and stands as an amazing testament to vargaries of terrorism and the pecularities of torture. Those of us who have read about LE PETIT SOLDAT know little more than those who have never heard of this film. We know that it is about FLN and the Algerian war crisis that was rocking France during the late fifties and sixties. We know that the film was banned upon its release and was only shown three years later in 1963 after Godard had completed several other films. We know that this is the first film to feature his soon-to-be wife, Anna Karina, the star of his major work in the 1960's. And we know that the film features torture, but various writers including but not limited to Richard Neupert dismiss the film as a 'dull grey' work where Godard cannot decide which side of the issue of terrorism and the Algerian conflict he agrees with. But none of these writers ever discuss the amazing detexity and fluidity of the camera and editing in this film. (Although this was noted by biographer Colin MacCabe in his book on Godard) For those who might have been looking for how Godard would advance the formal practices of the New Wave after BREATHLESS, LE PETIT SOLDAT is a dazzling display of where Godard was going to go. The aggressive opening sequence of the film is crammed with all of the techniques one associates with the New Wave including, jump cuts, swish pans, rapid editing, elliptical scenes, narration and the dead pan humor which was so typical of Godard. More than this, LE PETIT SOLDAT gives us a chilling portrait of terrorism, counter-terrorism and the arbitrary and brutal nature of such actions. The film is even more relevent today as America practices counter-terrorist techniques of using torture to extract information. The film is startlingly vivid even in its plaintative black & white style. The film also presents a motif that Godard would return to again and again in his work: that of the 'secret agent' or the person living a double life. This occurs in ALPHAVILLE and in PEIRROT LE FOU where characters are involved in some kind of intrigue that has a diasterous effect in the story. It is unfortunate that some critics would want Godard to choose a side when his main concern is the effect of politics upon an individual (a theme he would also return to again and again). The final open ended shot of the film really sends a chill down my spine as I realized how easy it is to commit a terrorist act and recede into the background of normality. I urge everyone to see LE PETIT SOLDAT because even though my initial reaction to the film was lukewarm, upon seeing it a second and third time, I realize that it was one of Godard's most daring works of the 1960's and it deserves a new appreciation.