THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS
directed by Denys Arcand (2003)
personal perspective by Ken Lyen
Rating: 4 stars out of 4
(Beware spoilers below)
The Barbarian Invasions is an astonishing film, well deserving of its Oscar win. Remy, a left wing academic, is dying from some painful terminal illness. His relatives and friends fly in from different parts of the world to spend the last few weeks with him. Remy is a remarkable character, someone who has lived life to the full. But he is a great womaniser and is divorced from his wife and estranged from his capitalist son, Sebastien. However, when his wife informs the son that his father had actually loved him and cared for him selflessly during his younger days, Sebastien's attitude towards his father changes. He helps find his father a more private room in the hospital, and to ease the pain, he finds heroin for him. All this is done with authenticity, humor and pathos.
What does the term "barbarian" refer to? Might I suggest that it refers to several different things. The etymology of "barbarian" is from the Greek barbaros meaning "foreign, strange, ignorant." They used it to refer to the invasion of Greece by foreigners, especially the Persians. The ancient Romans also referred to all non-Romans, such as the hostile Gauls, as barbarians. When the civilised Roman Empire disintegrated, it was overrun by these uncivilised barbarians. America in this film represents our present "civilisation". But even this superpower is under siege by such barbarians as the perpetrators of 9/11.
The movie is a sequel to Arcand's "Decline of the American Empire" (1986), and many of the main characters are reprised, now nearly 17 years older. In the film, Remy is invaded by his "barbaric" friends and relatives who actually brings much love, laughter, and a joie de vivre. His body is invaded by heroin, which alleviates his pain. His left-wing ideals are invaded by capitalist lucre, which in turn bring him comfort.
The Barbarian Invasions is replete with little ironies. The irony of the title is that the barbarians are not quite as barbaric as they seem. The Ottoman Turks were perceived to be one of the main "barbarians" during the Roman era. However, it is their Islamic scholarship and their translations of ancient Greek, Latin and Egyptian texts from the 8th to 15th Century AD, that served to preserve Western civilization.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
A couple of corrections and observations:
You should see this before you die, because the alternative is damn difficult.
It was actually the Greeks who coined the word barbarian (mostly to refer to the Roman empire). And the movie is the sequel to Arcand's "Decline of the American Empire" (hence the use of "barbarian invasion", the original Roman empire never really fell, it just gradually fell apart over a period of several hundred years).
Denis Arcand has often used the theme of government mis-management of public services in many of his movies, especially "Jesus of Montreal".