Front Row Reviews enjoyed a group interview and an audience Q and A with Mathieu Kassovitz at the Cine Lumiere in Kensington. He was promoting his latest film, Rebellion, which is a revealing docu-drama about a hostage crisis that took place on the French colony island of New Caledonia. Here are key quotes from both events.
“Rebellion is a grown up version of La Haine. It’s less funny. La Haine was about police brutality and this is about government brutality, so it’s a step up, but it’s the same kind of energy.”
“One of the great opportunities of being a director is to be able to tell stories, and when you discover another side to a story. There is nothing more fascinating than being able to express that and to show it to people. As a director if you take this responsibility very seriously you almost a reporter and the movie becomes a very important piece of journalism. But the movie is here to stay, rather than with a magazine which is gone next week.
“When you’re able to revise history or point of view or way of thinking, it’s a great responsibility. You can’t get a bigger kick than that. You’re not only making a movie but you’re also revealing something.
“It’s a hard movie to deal with in France. I’ve invested in this story, but people don’t care. It’s 25 years old and far away, so you know, who gives a shit? That kind of movie requires patience and intelligence. You need to sit down for over two hours and just think about what you are seeing, which is not what a lot of movies do today. I’m trying to get the audience to be smart about it. It’s difficult for me to sell. We got great reviews but nobody wants to see it in France, they don’t want to hear again that the government is lying. It’s strange. I’ve never had such good reviews and have nobody want to see the movie. I was really shocked, as it’s part of France’s history. French people are not French anymore. I no longer think French people are concerned or interested.”
“One year from now New Caledonia is going to vote for their independence and I think then the movie will be paid attention to and understood.”
“I got in touch with Phillipe in 2002 and he was very involved. He’s like a snake, a cold blooded animal. He’s very professional and doesn’t let his emotions take hold. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t tell me what he felt during that time.”
“Discussions about the Kanaks are up in the air now. They can build on that, it’s what they needed. I tried to be as close to the truth as possible. They needed something, now they have a piece of material they can talk about. It’s very important for them, they want to be portrayed in a real way, what they are and what they are fighting for. They are very proud of the movie because the movie is very close to what they are.”
“I love the Kanak island and the culture. I spent time with them and I became one of them. It was like in La Haine, I wasn’t from the project but I could step in and observe it from a distance. It’s the only way you can show your point of view. If you’re a Kanak you cannot have judgement as it’s too much, you need someone like me who can stay out of it, but can still be involved. They needed someone to tell their story.”
“I think the film is close to the reality. It showed his side of it and what he experienced, what he went through. It’s pretty accurate, it’s pretty honest about things.”
I’m done with France. The industry does not recognise these political films anymore. I did what I had to do with France, I gave my best and now it’s time for me to go somewhere else”.
“I won three Cesar awards and I never went to get them, even after my first movie, Café au Lait won an award, I never went to get it because I think the awards are tacky and boring. I don’t want to be seated next to these people. I’d love to go to the Oscars and sit next to Spielberg and Coppola, but not in France. I hate competition. When Rebellion was not nominated I was very shocked, because there are very few political movies like that, and if the French doesn’t support them then fuck you. They are trying to make their movies look American but what are we? We’re French. The British love and hate the way we are, and right now we’re not what we were, what we should be. Sarkozy killed our spirit.”
Read our exclusive interview with Mathieu Kassovitz here and our Rebellion review here.
