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Combat

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Synopsis

Told in three parts, Patrick Carpenter’s “The Irregularity of the tearing” is a three part cine-diary on intimacy, sensuality and desire. Part one, “God is a Dog” (2004) is shot on Super 8 and confronts the film makers remembrances of childhood memories and how they interact with his adult love encounters. Section two, “Les 9 mardis” (The 9 Tuesdays) (2005) deals with the absurdity of the passage of time. Time that reopens and closes past wounds, time the provides the courage to continue.

The final installment is the award winning “Combat” (2006). The tale of two young men both deeply in love who can only express their feelings through acts of physical violence committed upon each other. Full moons and lush forests frame this deeply felt and moving love story between two beautiful, youthful men. In its entirety, “Combat” leaves the viewer with a sense of wonder and awe while contemplating the true meaning of love.

Review

One of the most intriguing aspects of gay male sexuality--and the one explored here--is the absence and/or replacement of the iconic dominant-submissive relationship our culture has gotten so used to. Combat offers a couple of interesting observations on the subject: masochism is instilled early homosexual development (a sense of inferiority and fear is stamped on the lead character from age 14 when he is beaten up by a couple kids & told by his mother that he should have fought back), and that pain elevated to a form of sexual arousal simultaneously serves as a source of indulgence and penitence (while they have replaced genital arousal with bodily damage & seem to enjoy it, the younger character asserts at the end: "I feel good with you. I mean, not guilty." It's simultaneously a statement about love conquering a deep-seeded homosexual guilt complex and a confession that this violence, which his lover refers to as "punishment," is a soul-cleansing act.)

The movie is occasionally beautiful (their skin in the morning light makes them look like corpses, which is thematically compelling), occasionally gharish (the red storm clouds have got to go), and occasionally clichéd (the director's use of hand-held cameras to increase the "visceral" quality of its more violent scenes is something out of a freshman film class).

Nevertheless, these observations aside, I have a major complaint: since the movie has no interest in character and examines its particular breed of sexuality through people who are no more than "types," it is impossible to become emotionally involved. That is not usually something I care about, but the director clearly WANTS us to be emotionally involved: the agonizingly serious voice-over is WAY over the top.

-- Noelle Reilly

Product Format Information

DVD : $17.99

Availability: In stock and ready to ship
Close Caption: No
Region Code: 1
UPC: 759259140905

Studio : Water Bearer Films

Languages: French (Primary) , English Subtitles
Features:
Interview(s): With the director Patrick Carpentier

Keywords

Experimental/Avant-garde, Gay Male, Gay/Lesbian

Genres

International

Customer Reviews

Defining Love

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/11/2011:

“COMBAT”
Defining Love
Amos Lassen
Rarely will you find a movie with the sheer intensity of “Combat” (Water Bearer Films). It is brutal, it is courageous, and it is beautiful, “Combat” is actually just a third of trio of films entitled “The Irregularity of the Tearing” and it is the product of the mind of its director, Patrick Carpenter. The two other films on the DVD are “God is a Dog” and “Les 9 Mardis” and the three films together look intimacy, sensuality, and desire.
“God s a Dog” was made in 2004 and is somewhat a record of the director’s childhood memories and how they, in turn, interact with his love encounters as an adult. “Les 9 Mardis” or “Nine Tuesdays” has a look at the absurdity of the passage of time and how it can reopen and close past wounds while showing how time gives courage to continue in life.
“Combat” is the third film of the trilogy and the most powerful. It is the story of two young men who can only show their affection for each other by way f acts of physical violence. I had quite expected to be put off by this film, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was drawn into it.
Artistically this is a gorgeous film, emotionally it is provocative and compelling and I find it very hard to relay its power. If anyone had walked into my home I am sure they would have been surprised to see me sitting there and staring at my TV screen with my mouth agape and with tears in my eyes. The love between the two men is beautiful and brutal and their way of showing it is something rare to see. As the men lay together in a dimly lit forest, their love is framed by a pale moonlight. I am still unaware of this aspect of love, a love based on physical violence but that doesn’t mean it does not work for some. It obviously works for these two handsome men.
By the time the movie was over I felt spent and I was completely lost in thought so much so that I was just not in the mood to do anything but watch the film a second time and t was then that a revelation came to me. What the film is really about is the meaning of love and not about physical violence. As I watched the second time, I concentrated on the faces of the actors and I must say that I have only seen such bliss very few times in my life. What this obviously means is that love for every person is not only different but it is given definition by the way those involved in it choose to define it. I am also sure that violence, witch is not my taste at all, can certainly be an aphrodisiac to some.
“Combat” is not an easy movie but it is one that shows something new and that makes it important. Whether this kind of love is right or wrong is not for us to judge. It is just an aspect of an emotion that it is hard to put into words.

Boring

toni wrote on 09/26/2008:

I think this movie is a waste of money and time. It's not in English so it is hard to understand. The sequence is so boring.