The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgian, Dutch; 2012)AG thought 2013 would be the year of the Lion or Common Kestrel. With so many Belgian home grown international football players in the world arena and now a Belgian production a nominee in the Academy Awards for the Foreign Film category, it was her time in the spotlight. Now, we know Belgium has a movie industry.
This melodrama combines too many ideas into one presentation. It, however, excels in the music category. The soundtrack of bluegrass country music with heart warming plucking of banjo, mandolin and fiddle really stands out like no other. You may be asking what is bluegrass band doing in a Belgian setting? Well, the main character of the story, Didier has an obsession with this genre of music and looks up at the pioneers who promoted this kind of music. He plays in a band at a local pub. He has a love (?lust) at first sight moment with an owner of a tattoo parlour, Elise.
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| Common Kestrel (Belgian National Bird) |
An unplanned pregnancy initially scares Didier but later accepts the situation. Love blossoms in the household with the new addition, Maybelle. The story, all along, is interlaced with ear soothing feet stomping American folklore music.
At 6, Maybelle succumbs to cancer after failing all forms of treatment.
That is when I started wondering which direction the movie is heading. After all the sadness and acceptance, each parent blame each other for the child's demise, right down to genetic contribution. Then, there is a clash of spiritual ideologies. Didier is a strict non believer whilst Elise believes in the God above, heaven and all. They managed to settle their differences and start playing in the band again.
Then there is Didier's outburst on George Bush for vetoing the bill on stem cell research. Didier cannot fathom why a country (which he adores) has no qualms killing people through their wars but deprive potentially life saving researches. He blames this on Man's blind faith in God. He even has an outburst during one of the band's performances.
Didier and Elise never really got over the loss of their daughter and their relationship spiralled downhill. At one juncture, she attempts suicide. Despite resuscitation, she is left brain dead.The most touching part of the movie is when Elise's life support is unplugged to the accompanying music of Didier and his band in ICU.
I feel that many of the areas that they wanted to cover were very wishy washy, lacking in depth and direction. I was left to wonder what really was the take home message. That being in an organised religion is bad, that America is bad, that relationships cannot last forever or how tragedy affects human relationships? Perhaps if the director had spent less time graphically portraying the intimate moments of the main characters, they would have succeeded in these! Still, excellent music!
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