Les Carabiniers (1963)

Synopsis
Les Carabiniers (The Soldiers) was the fifth feature-length effort of director Jean-Luc Godard. Marino Mase and Albert Juross play two soldiers of an unnamed army fighting an unspecified war. Throughout their tour of duty, Mase and Juross send their wives long, loving letters detailing their various victories: these letters are accompanied by postcards of such strategic military targets as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids. When their army loses, Mase and Juross pay a visit to their king to collect their salaries, only to be shot down like dogs. Reportedly made as an "answer" to Hollywood's D-Day epic The Longest Day (1963), Les Carabiniers depicts warfare as a filthy enterprise fueled by lies and treachery. Deliberately confusing and misleading throughout, the film died at the box office in 1963; it might play better with today's MTV-weaned moviegoers, who have grown accustomed to non sequitur scenes and nonlinear plotlines. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide