All of Vigo's own wretched schooling was avenged in Zero de conduite, forty-four minutes of sustained, if roughly shot, anarchist crescendo. The attempt by society to regiment raw childhood, and the failure of the attempt, are conveyed by the very tender high-angled photography. -- David Thomson
Vigo's film brings back memories of one's childhood in school and all its arbitrary authority. When I was in sixth grade our history teacher said she was going to leave us alone for a few minutes so she could prove to us the importance of authority. We all erupted into chaos, wildly running around and throwing everything we could get our hands on. I later regretted that I did not take upon myself the burden of organizing the class to prove the value of anarchy and self-government, as the teacher, Mrs. Shook, returned to point out how she was needed in the classroom to control things. Vigo's film takes the approach of endorsing the fight against opression by the union of four students to lead the effective rebellion against the teachers who not only give out "zeros for conduct" but steal desserts from the students' lunches while the students are outside being marched around.
Vigo unfortunately made only four films, including the lovely L'atalante, before dying at the age of 29, but his films were quite influential in Europe, especially on Truffaut and Lindsay Anderson, whose If.... (1968) was strongly influenced by Zero de conduite.
No comments:
Post a Comment