Rebels

Actually the French and German titles are closer to Rebel Women, but apparently this is the title with which it will be released in the UK later this year.

Sandra is a former Miss Calais region and pole dancer who returns to Boulogne to escape her abusive husband. To start with she stays with her mother in a trailer park and gets a job st the local fish processing factory.

On the first day, her lecherous boss threatens to rape her, resulting in a severed penis and him falling down some stairs to his death, leaving behind a bag full of cash. Sandra and a couple of workmates take off, being hotly pursued by a gang of cartoon villains and Sandra’s estranged father. Hi jinx ensues, including a heap of wilfull gunfire, leaving most participants (including a passing bull) in a bloody heap on the floor.

It’s all too preposterous to take seriously, so I guess it’s supposed to be a comedy, but there aren’t any real jokes, though this didn’t stop a woman in the cinema laughing loudly and often at inappropriate moments.

In the plus column, it’s still a rare pleasure to see a film with women in the main roles – 2/3rds of whom look like real people. And if liberation means anything, its equal rights to appear in dumb films. But I didn’t really get it. From the title I was expecting something much more subversive than was actually delivered.

There is a twist in the ending, even if wasnt anything really surprising, though I was starting to worry that the film was going to drift off into movie cliche. One good thing too – at around 90 minutes its half the length of the version of Apocalypse Now that was running for 1 night only, but seemed way too much for my first night back from holiday.