The action is the image. The camera distance, the camera movement, everything flows from the action - from the ferociousness of the opening scenes where the camera hurls itself going around corners and darting back and forth to keep up with Rosetta, to the awkward longueurs where Rosetta is listening to the guy's recording of himself playing drums, eating as much as she can. The Dardenne Brothers always film society, even in their most schematic systems, but they do so…
Cinema without risk. A director waving his hands without purpose, barreling through imagery he is unprepared to deal with and settling for cheap shortcuts (the shots with the shoes). What does this have to say about fascism or life under it, its effects on people? It is empty caricature, settling finally on a coming of age story that's maudlin and without distance - forget about everything and dance! Ultimately, Waititi seeks to do two things: redeem those living under fascism…
The final scene is indicative of the issues at play here. It is a small revelation from one character to another, a surprise, deepening the connection between them, an homage to their past, a tribute. But it's all wrong. The rhythm is too fast, there's no patience, no poetry - my auteurist broken brain for some reason made a connection to Crowe's We Bought a Zoo and the ending of that film, where Crowe takes his time, showing the emotional…
