Bruno Dumont: Flandres (2006)

Again, I am opening a thread for anyone to comment on this film which I hope to write about later. I just saw it in Paris today, and was surprized after the disappointing Twentynine Palms to find something masterful and brief. Reviews had suggested it was offputting, long, and dull. It's not. Dumont tells the basic war story: man leaves girlfriend with pals to go to war. War is nasty, brutish, and short. He escapes with survivor guilt, minus a best friend, and returns to the girlfriend who has freaked out and needed treatment in his absence. Both are traumatized, but the ending is still sweet and hopeful. Andre' is a cloddish farm boy, but he has a nice smile and his final line is "Je t'aime." I was not at all as surprised at the Grand Prix at Cannes as I had expected to be. The focus and economy here are impressive.

Has anyone else seen it?