The 2006 Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Jury prize (the runner-up) went to the sharply divided Flanders, directed by Bruno Dumont, whose “L’Humanit” had caused a scandal when it won several awards in 1999.
Though not as strong as “Life of Jesus,” for some, “Flanders” was a return to form, particularly coming after “Twentynine Palms,” an excessive sexual and violent film that few saw.
Flanders links some blunt male-female sexuality in France to shocking violence on an unspecified Middle Eastern battlefront.
It tells the story of Demester, a man whose girlfriend cheats on him out of frustration with his lack of emotion. Demester is then sent to war, in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, where he experiences (and participates in) the horrors of war.
