WIND FROM THE EAST

Made shortly after the Paris riots in 1968, Wind from the East underlines Godard's new approach and his refusal to make so-called commercial films and concentrate only on those that have a revolutionary bent or ideal. Here he continues his attempts at defining a new kind of non-bourgeois cinema.

The film is divided into three parts, with Godard himself commenting upon the film throughout. Part one is a discussion on the nature of film, history of revolutionary film, and a mini-Western, set in the Third World in which the workings of imperialism are laid bare. The second section announces itself as an auto-critique of part one and ends with a declaration of war against the bourgeois concept of representation. Part three is a call to arms and a defence of violence.

... more at ease in the kind of film he wants to make, he brings wit and even humour of a sort to his subject.

Photographically less attractive than Le gai savoir, Wind from the East compensates with its greater assurance, even though the problem of making a film politically (as opposed to making a political film) has still to be solved.

Richard Roud, Sight and Sound

It is a rather tedious effort that carries many of his efforts to an anarchic end.

... irritating and finally vapid pic that neither succeeds as revolutionary fodder or even potent off-beat cinema.

... general uneven approach that lacks any of Godard's previous filmic flair.

Mosk in Variety