War Requiem
Director: Derek Jarman
Year Released: 1989
Rating: 1.0
Messy - and frankly ugly - hodge-podge of old/new footage from provocateur Jarman: he links together archival war imagery with tacky studio-shot material and comes to the conclusion that conflict is brutal and sad (quick ... sound the alarms). There's no dialogue though there are some of Wilfred Owen's poems read in voice-over; the rest of the audio is opera, which is a rather obvious choice to play over images of people experiencing agony. The inclusion of graphic footage of those killed in war is an attempt to grant this a power that it doesn't earn or deserve.
