I've read some people comment about how the characters in THE STATEMENT film should speak with French accents as the film is set in France. I have to tell you that nothing would be more distracting that a bunch of English actors using phony French accents for 2 hrs. The film would be ripped apart by the critics far worse than to go without the accents. That's why other French-set films like QUILLS and THE THREE MUSKETEERS have decided to use English accents. Intelligent movie-going audiences are supposed to be able to suspend their disbelief and assume early on that the characters are French, because the fact that they are French is, frankly, unimportant...The idea is for English speaking audiences to follow the plot and identify somewhat with the characters, and it's far easier to do that without the use of distractingly bad foreign accents. Besides, in reality the French don't speak English with French accents...they speak the French language! So unless you commit to allowing the actors to speak the actual language, the next best thing is to have them go with the actors' native language, especially since the filmakers are trying to appeal to English speaking audiences!
I've also noticed a couple of people being quite critical of the moment when Caine's character kicks a dog. In fact, someone on this forum claims it was inspired by THE SOPRANOS. These people should understand that this film is based upon a novel written by Brian Moore and that dog-kicking scene is straight from the novel, written before that TV show. Frankly, I myself am stunned that they kept that in, but it shows you how committed screenwriter Ronald Harwood and director Norman Jewison were in staying faithful to the novel, and not trying to soften Caine's character too much, which impresses me tremendously! This brings me to another, more important point. Like the novel, nothing is black and white, but shades of gray. No character represents this like Pierre Brossard! He is a war criminal guilty of terrible atrocities, and still capable of vicious behavior, yet he's a human being with complex emotions like fear, sorrow and even warmth. Brossard behaves in ways that many of us would under the same circumstances, which separates him from such over-the-top, almost inhuman characters as Hannible Lecter or Bill the Butcher. He is, instead, one of life's true villains. The story probably won't end the way most will hope, and the characters won't behave the way most will expect. This is what makes the story so unique. And this is why I believe THE STATEMENT will be a film that will stand the test of time...much like Michael Caine's 1971 film GET CARTER, which received mixed reviews upon it's first release but has become a celebrated classic over the years! We should all be thankful that there are filmakers out there still willing to make intelligent films! I know I am!
I've also noticed a couple of people being quite critical of the moment when Caine's character kicks a dog. In fact, someone on this forum claims it was inspired by THE SOPRANOS. These people should understand that this film is based upon a novel written by Brian Moore and that dog-kicking scene is straight from the novel, written before that TV show. Frankly, I myself am stunned that they kept that in, but it shows you how committed screenwriter Ronald Harwood and director Norman Jewison were in staying faithful to the novel, and not trying to soften Caine's character too much, which impresses me tremendously! This brings me to another, more important point. Like the novel, nothing is black and white, but shades of gray. No character represents this like Pierre Brossard! He is a war criminal guilty of terrible atrocities, and still capable of vicious behavior, yet he's a human being with complex emotions like fear, sorrow and even warmth. Brossard behaves in ways that many of us would under the same circumstances, which separates him from such over-the-top, almost inhuman characters as Hannible Lecter or Bill the Butcher. He is, instead, one of life's true villains. The story probably won't end the way most will hope, and the characters won't behave the way most will expect. This is what makes the story so unique. And this is why I believe THE STATEMENT will be a film that will stand the test of time...much like Michael Caine's 1971 film GET CARTER, which received mixed reviews upon it's first release but has become a celebrated classic over the years! We should all be thankful that there are filmakers out there still willing to make intelligent films! I know I am!