Aaltra (2004)

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

i'm not a pseudo-intellectual trying to feel good watching intellectual black and white french movies. I actually want to be entertained. One guy is attacked by surprised by the other guy that arrived in a motorcycle and stopped 2 meters behind him? Need to say more? Maybe a hybrid motorcycle? Did Elon Musk financed this movie? Reading the synapse this scene is catalyst of the ensuing plot of the movie. If a scene of this importance is treated like this...An it's not like until that point, the movie did anything to make you keep watching, the premise has been used and abused. So yes, this is the review of the fist 13 minutes of the movie. If i want to be entertained with bad writing and nonsense i watch so blockbuster action movie.

Friends by default, two a-holes, who just happen to be quadriplegic, hit the highway in "Aaltra", a road movie that subtly recalls David Lynch's "The Straight Story", since the journey is accomplished with a slow-moving vehicle, in which its occupants have opportune encounters with heretofore strangers. Neighbors at war before the accident, the neighbors bury the hatchet and join forces in a common cause; to sue the manufacturer of the agricultural tractor that left them in suspended animation from the waist down. For "Aaltra" to function as a comedy, the filmmaker needs to distance the audience from the pathetic condition of L'employe(Benoit Delepine) and L'ouvrier agricole(Gustave Kervern). The filmmaker has to erase the chair. Since both men lack any semblance of having scruples about other people's property and hospitality, this isn't hard. We soon forget about their inability to walk, as both men exhibit a negligence to be grateful for the kindness that strangers make the mistake of displaying towards these misanthropic "cripples"(crippled in the humanistic sense). L'employe and L'ouvrier are like that guy from "Murderball", whose friends testify to having the same type-A personality, before the accident that sentenced him to the chair. When L'employe and L'ouvrier were laid up in hospital beds, nobody came to visit them. As Paul the Beatle once sang, "the long you take is equal to the love you make."To further minimize our sympathies towards L'employe and L'ouvrier, the filmmaker employs formal elements to make their handicap more abstract. Chiaroscuro deemphasizes the immediacy of both men's conditions. The black and white photography blanches out the flesh tones from people, which makes the subject more like an inanimate object than a repository for memories and dreams. If blood is shed, the blood is black. Less visceral. Without realizing it, the viewer becomes more objective. In black and white, you look less human. Since "Aaltra" frees the viewer from the requisite compassion one contemplates towards people with disabilities, the film's success hinges on how, not if, these two disgruntled travelers avenge their gripe against the tractor company. It's not a tragi-comedy, it's a deadpan one. The manufacturer is Finnish-based. Filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki is from Finland.Fin.

AALTRA (Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine - France/Belgium 2004)A rare combination of real-life drama and black humor, this low-budget film from Belgium is a treat from start to finish. Shot in b/w Scope, almost every frame of this refreshingly original road-movie on wheelchairs seems to contain a delightful comic set-up, greatly enhanced by its grainy 16mm b/w photography.The film kicks off in a rural area south of Brussels, where Gus and Ben (played by the writer-directors, K/Vern and Delépine) are neighbors. Gus is a farmer and spends most of his time daydreaming on his tractor. Ben is a commuter, who has trouble at his work in the city and with his marriage. Both are very unhappy with their lives but most off all, the two men work on each other's nerves. One day, as Ben hurries to get to work on the small road leading to their house, Gus willfully obstructs the way with his tractor. Ben climbs on Gus' tractor and starts a fight, part of the machinery falls on top of the men and the next day they wake up in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. Gus decides to head for Finland in order to claim indemnity from the tractor company, named Aaltra. What follows is a road-movie on wheelchairs through Europe in order to reach their goal.Part of what makes it all so strangely endearing is the fact that the two men are in a wheelchair, which makes a perfect excuse for some comic situations. Every simple thing they do, from trying to get money or food to innocent remarks made to strangers, becomes hilarious because of the way everyday people tend to react to the disabled. Due to the almost universal belief in the goodness of disabled people in general, Gus and Ben are able to shamelessly take advantage of even the most helpful and friendly persons they encounter. The fact that the two men aren't in the least sympathetic is exactly what gives the film it's edge. They remain malevolent hostile bastards, just as hostile against each other as against the outside world they have to cope with.Considering it's minimal budget, the cinematography is great. Beautifully shot in grainy black-and-white, with many extreme long shots, many of them without dialog. And K/Vern and Delépine are talented comedians (especially in silent comic expressions), but they somehow managed (or got the right people to do it for them) to give the film a real cinematographic touch. A rare achievement. Aki Kaurismäki and Benoît Poelvoorde appear in the film in small roles, although the latter is tough to spot. You have to be familiar with his legs or voice to recognize him.Camera Obscura --- 9/10

Aaltra is definitely worth a try. The photography (grainy black-and-white) is very well composed, and the pictures are often beautiful, or at least kind of puzzling --even though they are merely showing a train, a field, or a tractor....The film is clearly pretty odd, and reminded me of the absurd atmosphere present in Kaurismakis' movie. Better, the film has a refreshing cynical black humor and has the courage of treating wheel-chair people without being patronizing at all (i.e., without any more respect than everybody else)... The humour reminded me a little bit of Man Bites Dog (C'est arrive pres de chez vous), although in a much milder tone which should be more acceptable for the mainstream.Despite these qualities, it seems that a clear narrative (as well as geographical) direction what was lacking. I did not really have strong feelings for the story or its characters, which left me definitely seduced, but not enthralled.