The Barbarian Invasions

Denys Arcand, Canada / France, 2003, 99 minutes

How would you like to die? I think everybody would like to die like Remy, the protagonist of "The Barbarian Invasions". A schoolteacher who falls sick with cancer and then realises that he has something better than all the medicine in the whole world – he's got friends. When his estranged son finds out about his father's sickness, he calls up old friends, of whom some are actually his dad's ex-lovers, and does whatever he can to ease the last moments of the old man's life. All that happens with a little help of wine, good food, memories and…heroine.

"Barbarian invasions" is a great film with brilliant, intelligent script and very good actors' performances. It teaches us to appreciate life and asks many important questions about the role of intelligentsia in the society. Something that we could easily associate with as future university graduates. It also shows difficult relations between parents and children and the "healing power" of money, but most of all of love and friendship.

Review by Jan Naszewski
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2004