Week 3 Tute

welcome back faithful reader, this week I'll be addressing the issues which were raised within the french new wave film 'La Jetee.' This film, made in the 1962 was a style of new wave film was radically different from the Hollywood blockbusters of that era, they began to use lightweight equipment, first used by documentary filmmakers. The film used a totally different style of film to which i had seen, utilising a still photo montage with voice overs.

now the film was composed during the time of the cold war, and the threat of nuclear winter was imminent, this being the basis for this film. The 'star' of the film is selected at random to participate in experiments, this being completely immoral and unethical, but i guess at the time deemed necessary for survival. (who has the right to make these decisions?) these experimenters put their Guinea pigs through these excruciating experiments in the hope to gain valuable resources which they lack. weeks go by with the main character, in a haze of pain and disorientation, and gradually the film unfolds into him recognising more and more, until he realises his captors wish to kill him, where he escapes to the past with the help of those from the future. which still, ultimately, ends in his death, coming back to that memory from the beginning of the film on the jetty at Orly.

I guess one of the key concerns is that they are trying to find a solution via technology not yet developed, something so unthinkable such as time travel, to a problem which is imminent, being nuclear war.

This could relate to us in Australia, with the current ongoing water crisis, what kinds of new technology could we implement to solve this? something that may seem completely unfathomable now, but in 20 years may become standard procedure. The same goes for the 'War on terrorism' we could end up in a similar position as the characters in the film, governments are already taking precautionary measures such as photographing and fingerprinting you when you enter the U.S. whats next? They experiment on animals, and they microchip them. Are we next to be chipped, so they can track our each and every move? Just a tad unethical and immoral don't you think?

As a fan of 12 Monkeys, i had no idea it was based on this 40 year old film. i was shocked! and looking back on both films, you can see just how similar they are, but personally i find the original more effective. Raw, brutal images do well to represent the storyline, keep the suspense, and haunt you. If you didn't catch this movie, im sure you could download it, so go see it!