Cache (2005)

It's been a month since I saw Cache and I still don't know what to make of it. From what I understand, this is pretty normal. Just your average, run-of-the-mill European art film with a sparse plot and no real conclusion. I doubt anybody visits my blog hoping to be swayed on what to rent at the video store, so there's not much point in discussing the film from a critical point of view, at least not for me.

The film's opening shot is like nothing we've seen before in cinema. A static shot of a French street as viewed from an alleyway, the people go about their business unaware. The opening credits come and go, and still the shot is held. Sometimes a shot lasts just long enough for the viewer to make connections. Sometimes, it lasts even longer, giving the viewer a chance to think about what they're seeing and why they're seeing it. Cache takes this idea and runs with it. This shot is held for an n enormous amount of time, and undoubtedly sets the tone for the rest of the film. This isn't a taut thriller a la Hitchcock or Clouzot, though it does pack some suspenseful moments. These aren't the result of a bomb under the table or a kidnapped child, they come from the interactions we have with others, specifically those we care most about.

It's somewhat obvious that the central theme isn't what you'd expect from a thriller. It's not that Haneke isn't concerned with the basics of suspense; he knows what the audience wants, and deliberately withholds information to create the desired effect. It's less about who the perpetrator is and more about the France/Algeria conflict, personified by two young boys, now grown up. It takes the standard whodunnit formula and turns it on its ear, forcing the audience to think about these countries' shared past. Of course, the downside to this is that, for anybody watching the film who isn't familiar with this slice of history, the entire point of it is lost. My knowledge is more or less limited to having seen The Battle of Algiers a couple of years ago. It's somewhat infuriating, because I understand that the film focuses on this conflict, but gives nearly no background information. It's not that the film is poorly made, it's just that the filmmakers knew who their target audience was while making the film, and unfortunately, I'm not in that group. Them's the breaks.

The film does pack one incredible sequence. The entire film moves as a glacier's pace, so one moment of violence is startlingly powerful in its context. Even though I was watching intently, I was caught so off guard that I had to rewind the film a few seconds to make sure I'd seen what I thought I saw. I even uttered an expletive. Shouted it, in fact, involuntarily. Ah, the power of cinema.