"The Barbarian Invasions," Denys Arcand's sequel to his 1986 film "Decline of the American Empire," is proof that a movie steeped in death can be life affirming. It's the bittersweet tale of a man who's dying of terminal cancer and his decision to end his life with dignity, surrounded by those he loves rather than wasting away to the terms of his disease. The film is frequently painful, but never in a pointless or gratuitous way; its purpose is not to simply make us feel bad. And for every scene that's painful, there's another that's funny, or touching, or sweet. Mostly, the movie posits that success is measured not by how many things one has managed to collect, but rather by how many loving and loved people he can share his life, and end of life, with.
Grade: A
Grade: A