It made me nostalgic for a time and place I never experienced: the mid 1930 in Barcelona, Paris and North Africa. The range of everyday objects is so radically different from my time and space that it makes those olden times simpler, thus more meaningful. This is before TVs, commercial airplanes, computers. It made it easier to concentrate on the scenery, the people themselves, the story and morals behind it, there was less distraction. The protagonist, played by 31 year old Jean Gabin, kills someone in Paris, flees to Barcelona, runs out of money joins the foreign legion, but a cop follows him there too. I won't give away the end of the action though. Despite being a(n accidental) murderer, Gabin plays an honorable man.
The movie's focus is about honor as the title (meaning Flag) suggests too. But looking from today the concept of honor is limited: women and Arabs are excluded by default. The former group is clearly subservient and in best case are good looking prostitutes. The latter group is not even shown (with one short exception) despite that the second half of the movie is about the heroic European soldiers who fight them, the inferior "bastards". So maybe, thinking about my 21st century social sensitivity I should not think so nostalgically of that era. I loved the overhead shots on the street of Barcelona's markets. They were so full of life.
The movie's focus is about honor as the title (meaning Flag) suggests too. But looking from today the concept of honor is limited: women and Arabs are excluded by default. The former group is clearly subservient and in best case are good looking prostitutes. The latter group is not even shown (with one short exception) despite that the second half of the movie is about the heroic European soldiers who fight them, the inferior "bastards". So maybe, thinking about my 21st century social sensitivity I should not think so nostalgically of that era. I loved the overhead shots on the street of Barcelona's markets. They were so full of life.