Highly Overrated But Still Good

Best movie of this year hands down!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Considering the recent events in France this very year (the farmers blocking the roads last summer,demanding a square deal ),this 1981 movie -which was released in France last year- is extremely relevant and has a contemporary feel. The story is as old of the hill:a Young man is confronted with a well known problem:will he continue with farm work when he comes to his father's funeral?A father who was a convinced unionist and who "slaved away " while trying to improve a hard living (the price of milk ,a problem which is still a burning question :ironically,France imports milk from Belgium!),got his reward ,so to speak,in the speech they deliver when he is buried.The "big landscape "of Alexis is wonderfully filmed ,with superb colors .Maurice Garrel ,a seasoned French actor,too often cast in supporting casts ,is a convincing peasant;future director Nicole Garcia makes all her scenes count as a farmer's sister who left for the city and became a lawyer.The movie might put off foreign audiences because of the background (the Flemish/Walloon antagonism) and a non-linear story.