It's not easy to find a good list of movies about war correspondents on the web. Often they miss such action plus movies as Harrison's Flowers (2000) or The Bang Bang Club (2010), though The Killing Fields (1984) will be there. Live From Bagdad (2000) may or may not be. A Thousand Times has two sequences, each pretty short, that align the movie with those above, but that's all. Both sequences are pretty devastating and high tension. Alas, that's the only tension you'll find in this movie. This is a study of a female war correspondent's calling and how it affects her family. The major problem with the movie, no matter Juliette Binoche's capable and noble portrayal, is very early on the viewer may definitely decide not to like her. Her initial source of assignment, and her role in its consequences, strikes one very early in the piece as just plain wrong. We don't like her. Then the movie takes a very long time to get to her second assignment. She's been rehabilitated in the viewers' eyes now, but, alas, again it all comes crashing down with her dumb choices and subsequent behaviour. She's just so selfish. Then her third assignment, and, well, yet another ridiculous choice, and, for me, quite frankly, I was just glad the movie was over. It's beautifully filmed, and the little daughter is cute. A couple of years ago I saw a movie called War Story (2014), about a returned female war correspondent suffering PTSD. Strange how movie themes often come in tandem during a short time period. I wonder if that's competition? I have an uncomfortable thought that both these movies were convenient vehicles for their star leads.
Review of 1,000 Times Good Night
