A classic

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was included in the ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ list, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, this movie is quite a challenge as it is a whopping 7 hours long. However, I actually managed to watch the whole thing in one single sitting and, to be fair, I don’t think it was so difficult after all (I did start to get a headache towards the end though). Did it really require such an insane running time? Probably not but it was still totally worth it though. What amazed me the most was how well made the whole thing was. Indeed, it was visually really good and, for a movie more than 100 years old, the editing was just really impressive, much better than in most of the movies I have seen from this time period. Concerning the story, even though you might expect something really epic, it was actually surprisingly low-key, focusing on the family of a poor railway engineer. Obviously, it was told on an epic scale though and Gance spent a lot of attention on this world of the railroad yards creating such a vivid place. Still, I have to admit that I did struggle with this tale though. Basically, the whole thing was about how this father fell in love with his daughter which was just so cringe to behold. The big selling point was that she was actually adopted which was supposed to make it then not so inappropriate but, as a father who raised my step-daughter for more than a decade, it was fairly disgusting to behold. While watching the damned thing, you hope that it was just a phase, that they will move on towards something else at some point, but, no, it went on and on about his obsession for hours. It was also really sad that they completely shunned the poor girl out without a shred of explanation and preferred to constantly play the victim instead of dealing with their feelings. Indeed, when her brother found out about her true lineage, he also became completely obsessed with her but it didn’t bother me that much. In fact, when I heard that Sisif already had a son right at the beginning of the movie, I predicted that they would end up together. Well, to my surprise, it didn’t happen after all, in fact, after all the tragic stuff that happened in this family, the girl never found out that she wasn’t in fact related to her father and brother which was surprising. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely win me over, it is still a classic and it is definitely worth a look.

7/10