Watch Beau Travail For Free

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Most films which have depicted 'French legion' have been American productions. They have been able to given an American perspective of French military scene. After 'Fort Saganne' (1984) directed by late Alain Corneau, 'Beau Travail' is the second French film made in recent times which talks about the French legion (La Légion Etrangère), a military service wing of the French Army which was established in 1831. French legion is considered absolutely unique as it was created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. It continues to attract numerous soldiers who are willing to show their valor during critical missions. Although this film has a regular story as well as a conventional plot, it does not easily fit into the mold of regular French films as its narrative device is completely different from other films made in France. One would not find any chatty characters willing to set tongues wagging. Despite having directed a feature film director Claire Denis has been able to give a 'documentary' type feel to her film. It helps viewers to understand the world in which the protagonists live. A good selection of nice musical tracks is this film's principal strengths. It helps viewers to get closer to one of film's important characters. Lastly, 'Beau Travail' is a good example of a fairly ambitious film which has come as close as possible to a documentary film.

Claire Denis' loose adaptation of Herman Melville's "Billy Budd", changes the story from taking place on the ocean to the African country of Djibouti, an impoverished nation with an outpost for training of the French Foreign Legion. Ms. Denis, who spent part of her life in Africa, sees the similarities of both stories and together with her co-writer Jean-Pol Fargeau, set to show us how the Melville novel impressed her.The group of legionnaires, we meet, are seen in different stages of their training. The men, who come from different walks of life, and countries, have nothing to do. The only entertainment for them is dancing with the local women in bars. Galoup, the second in command, of this outpost, is the narrator of the story. We realize he is telling the story from a civilian point of view since he is no longer a legionnaire.The man in charge, Galoup, is a strange person. He starts noticing how one of his men, the mysterious Sentain, does everything he is assigned to do, and more. When a helicopter crashes and Sentain risks his life in order to save a pilot, the troop commander, Bruno Forrester, suddenly sees in Sentain an courageous man. Forrester also observes how Galoup reacts to Sentain's sudden recognition. It's the commander who tells Galoup that backstabbing doesn't fit in the Foreign Legion, but it's already too late. Galoup, who is consumed in his dislike for Sentain, takes his subordinate into the desert as a punishment, which unknown to him will backfire on him.Claire Denis has amassed an interesting cast to give life to her vision. Agnes Godard, the cinematographer has shot the film showing us great vistas of Djibouti and the Golf of Aden. The film has the feeling of a ballet as one watches the men's shadows on the ground as they meditate after a grueling training session. Even though there is no clear indication Galoup is gay, but the way he watches Sentain leaves the viewer to think otherwise. The way Galoup touches Forrestier's bracelet is another indication of what is really troubling Galoup, in spite of the fact he is seeing one of the local women.Denis Lavant, an intense actor, plays Galoup with such control, yet it's clear to see what's eating him. Gregoire Colin, another actor with a great range, hardly utters a word throughout the film, yet, he comes across loud and clear in knowing what his superior is doing to him and being a better man for taking the abuse. Michel Subor is the troop's commander, a man into himself, but wise enough to detect all what's happening to the young people under his command.Clair Denis created an exquisite work of art. Ms Denis is a director that always delivers. The film solidifies her as one of the best women making movies in France, and all over the world, for that matter.

Films with traditional narratives are all right, I guess, but once in a while it becomes necessary to immerse yourself in a movie that eschews complete narrative coherence. Beau Travail, which follows a tale similar to Melville's Billy Budd, is one such movie. It's not confounding in the manner of an Eraserhead; you will not find yourself forever scratching your head, wondering what on earth the director was aiming for. Quite the opposite: It's a languid dissection of one (noticeably ugly) man's attempt to destroy a thing of beauty--Sentain. What's most interesting to me is that, in the sand of Djibouti, Sentain is not the only beautiful man, nor is he the only thing of beauty. Galoup's desire to destroy Sentain is, as a result, slightly arbitrary and therefore more resonant than it would be in another setting. What is astounding, and slightly confounding in this film, is its slightly elliptical story-telling. The scenes here do follow a chronology, but, simultaneously, layer upon one another. The moments depicted could occur at any moment in relation to any other moment. The precise connection between one scene and the next is not entirely necessary to watch the film. This is a frustrating position for some viewers, I suppose, because it demands a little more of your attention. However, the feelings conjured by this sort of narrative style are immensely pleasurable. I feel, watching this movie, as if I am floating, eyes-closed, upon the sea at night; the loss of concrete perception thrills and frightens you at the same time.Such storytelling also gives Beau Travail a hallucinatory quality that complements the equally hallucinatory visual scheme. Claire Denis is among the most impressive visual stylists working in cinema today. She has a sense of color, composition, and light that is both painterly and remarkably cinematic. Her framing and compositions are not quite epic, but they approach that feeling. All in all, Beau Travail is truly a handsome work and one that I urge adventurous movie- lovers to seek out.

"Beau Travail" uniquely provides a woman's eye, director/co-writer Claire Denis, on the movie genre of taut men in groups, peace time military subset, with much less profanity or crudeness or misogyny than is typical.The camera loves looking at all these half naked, trim, fit young men, as they are seen over and over in all kinds of repetitive physical exertions, from the usual military obstacle courses to martial arts exercises that look like tai chi, to ones that seem like yoga and then banging against each other. (Surely these images must have influenced the later directors of "Tigerland" and "Jarhead.") It is amusing to see them busily ironing clothes in order to get the required creases in their uniforms. I haven't seen such a sensual scene of men ironing since Kevin Costner in "Bull Durham." The narrating sergeant "Galoup" is the usual strict bully, punishingly competitive in all these exercises. But I completely missed that the film was an adaptation of "Billy Budd" until I saw the closing credits that referenced the Britten opera on the soundtrack because the object of his attention, "Sentain," doesn't seem like a helpless victim.Unlike all movies about the duress of basic training and keeping enlisted men in line, the story is not from the point of view of this victim, but is told as a flashback by the sergeant with lots of references to what is lost and found (we hear "perdu" and "trouve" a lot though some is lost in translation as idioms are poorly translated in the subtitles, such as of sang froid).The sergeant seems out of "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" school, setting the under-employed Foreign Legionnaires posted on the coast of Djibouti to work repairing deserted roads and literally digging holes in the desert to work out his frustrations.The orphan just gets under his burr until he intentionally provokes him to the limit. It is certainly not clear what it is about him that annoys the sergeant. His lean beauty? His casual heroism? Even if there's some conflicted homosexual urges, and the sensuality of the local African environment and music are continually emphasized, amidst the homo-erotic subtext, the sergeant clearly has the hots for a young local woman.We don't get to learn much about the individual Legionnaires. The commandant, the crusty Michel Subor, is comfortable as a career soldier and, surprisingly in this genre, does support a sense of fair play and justice, as symbolized by his chess playing. He keeps insisting the men are no longer Russian or African but now are loyal to the Legion (as we keep hearing the anthem over and over). There is some grudging tolerance of the exoticism of diversity, even as the Muslims are teased during Ramadan.Even as viewed on video tape, the setting and contrasts in Africa are beautiful – from the desert to the sparkling bright ocean, but the narration is annoying, even as it ties together the memories of regret.The music is very evocative of the setting. The curving sensuality of night time African dance clubs and the women dancing is contrasted with the formality of the men's exercising. So I think in the conclusion the sergeant is finally trying to integrate all his experiences to the tune of "Spirit of the Night."