Für die Katz

One of my favorite films of all time is Sans Soleil, so of course every Chris Marker film has to be held up to that masterpiece in evaluating its merits. I also love cats, and I might be seduced to like this film just for the cat theme, but I found that the political pointedness of the film--Marker clearly has very strong opinions about all of the major events of the twenty-first century to date--makes it less palatable than his other works. Which is not, however, to say that I necessarily disagree with him. In fact, I was among the group of Americans Against the War at the march in Paris in March 2003, footage of which is included at about minute 31. But my narcissism isn´t quite enough to mar my aesthetic judgment. This film is just not as good as Marker´s others efforts. The tone reminds me of the general attitude of liberals in the United States, that everything has been settled, and if you disagree, then you are an idiot. And, yes, I am a liberal, if anyone is, and of course I am vehemently opposed to my country´s predatory wars. Still, I don´t think that everything is obviously settled a priori, and I do not believe that everyone who disagrees with me is a fool.