Right in the mid-eighties, in 1985, Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and starred in the fourth installment of Rocky. The most bombastic of the franchise, the one that was considered a pinnacle of Reaganist cinema. Of course, those of us who were twelve when it came out found out about those details later. We also found out later that many critics had panned the film, and it had won many of those Razzie Awards, one of the stupidest and most conservative awards in the world of film. Rocky IV was not only a huge hit, but it also anticipated the fall of communism. Seen today, the film has some moments and quotes that are downright clairvoyant. This documentary is an exploration of Rocky IV, of Stallone, of Reagan, of the eighties, of the Cold War, and of how influential the soft power of American film and popular culture proved to be in order to win that war. It’s a documentary almost as amusing as the film that originated it, with extraordinary stock footage that begins with young hereditary dictator Kim Jong-un applauding a rendition of Bill Conti’s music. JPF
Sections: Panorama Cine al Aire LibreD: Dimitri Kourtchine
ARTE France. Audrey Kamga
T +33 1 5500 7081
E a-kamga@artefrance.fr
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Born in Moscow, then the USSR, in 1983, he lives in Paris, France. He has made many documentaries for the TV channel Arte France, among them Apple, the Tyranny of Cool. He’s also an author and illustrator of children’s books, such as Alexis et son épi (2011).
05 May 2015
25 April 2015
25 April 2015
