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From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: _My_New_Partner_  (spoiler)
Message-ID: <6112@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 23-Jun-85 17:33:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.6112
Posted: Sun Jun 23 17:33:18 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Jun-85 06:28:27 EDT
References: <2157@ut-sally.UUCP>
Reply-To: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (Peter Reiher)
Distribution: net
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 60
Summary: 

In article <2157@ut-sally.UUCP> kelvin@ut-sally.UUCP (Kelvin Thompson) writes:
> The movie might have been something to stand beside
> Lumet's _Prince_of_the_City_, but instead the French Government has
> turned _Partner_ into a *comedy.*  
> 
Mr. Thompson overstates the French government's participation in the filmmaking
process.  For a more informed view, read the articles Marcel Ophuls has
published in "American Film" over the last few years.  While the government may
hold this attitude, the filmmakers undoubtedly chose this approach, it was not
forced on them by the Ministry of Culture.  The French sacred cow used to be
the army, not the police, and even that has been somewhat undermined.

> This type of manipulation may wash with the French, but other audiences
> will recognize the insidious messages planted by _Partner_ as part of a
> larger trend, a trend which corresponds roughly with the ascension to
> power of Mitterand's "Socialist" government in France.  Certainly American
> audiences will realize that all of the recent films coming out of France
> -- from _Jupiter's_Thigh_ to _Coup_de_Torchon_ to _Diva_ -- portray the
> police as ineffectual boobies and trivialize their position in society.
> 

Perhaps Mr. Thompson isn't familiar with earlier French cinema, but the French
have never cared for police as heros.  They rarely play this role, and
cyniscism about the police is widespread in French popular art, and has been
for a very long time.  Mr. Thompson is apparently unaware that this type of
protrayal of the police is also popular in the US, though not to the same
degree.  Rarely are modern American film police heros by-the-book types.  Almost
to a man, they break the rules with little regard for law, and frequently the
belief that they are the arbiters of justice (Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies,
"The French Connection", Chuck Norris' very popular films, and others too
numerous to mention).  The other popular American archetype for the police is 
that they are of little help in situations of real importance (almost any 
Hitchcock film, "The Maltese Falcon", and most other detective movies).

> Fortunately, Mitterand and his cronies have forgotten one thing while
> churning out their subliminal broadcast -- that the people of France and
> Europe love their liberty, and will die to keep it.  Paris, or even
> France, may fall for a time, but freedom lovers the world over will gladly
> take up arms to see that it is once again restored to its previous glory. 
> Liberty *will* live again.

The French have, historically, had left-wing revolutions, not right-wing ones.
Neither is very likely, but I'd be more inclined to believe in a Communist
revolution in France than a conservative one.  I don't suppose you're really
suggesting that Ronnie deflect attention from Lebanon by invading France to
overthrow its democratically elected government, but it does sound like you
wouldn't much mind it.  

> With luck, however, careful viewers of movies like _Partner_ may come to
> fully appreciate the foul fruit that is ripening in the heart of Europe 
> and avert the explosion peacefully, before a drop of blood need be shed.

A reasonable discussion of the morality and truth of police corruption
and its portrayal in films would be interesting, but this article is not
much of a contribution to such discussion.
-- 
        			Peter Reiher
        			reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
				soon to be reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
        			{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher