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Review

Epic in scope and probably too much for a feature film, Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (The Adventures of Felix) film traces a French family from the the 1968 Paris student rebellion through the gay rights movement and the arrival of AIDS and Act-Up. The first half of the film takes us through revolution, free love and hippie parenting. More interestingly the second half is oriented around a passionate gay romance between the children of two of the hippies. While Born in 68 probably won't win any awards, the gay sections of the film work splendidly. I think it would have made an excellent 6-hour mini-series -- as a 3-hour film, it's just too much to follow and digest.

The film begins in Paris, 1968. Catherine, Yves and Hervé are 20 years old and very involved with the left-wing student groups. They are students in love not only with each other, but the revolution in the air. Feeling something more than the political change being called for, the three friends decide to leave Paris with a larger group. Filled with a sense of communal utopia, they move to an abandoned farm in a rural area of France. No one seems to own the farm and the neighbors don't seem to care about the new hippies in town. They run naked through the fields, and make free love in the open air. But it's not all play. They work the farm, put on a new roof, rebuild the walls and get farm animals. But as in many communal living arrangements, the group frays at the edges and then at the core. The love that once was crumbles -- the old friendships fade -- and new friendships are made. Hervé tires of the pastoral life and leaves Catherine with Yves and the kids, Boris and Ludmilla. We next see Hervé a few years later living underground and being sought by the police for his violent actions.

The film fast forwards to 1989 and Catherine and Yves' children are now teenagers. Ludmilla married an Islamic traditionalist and moved away. Her marriage is frayed at the edges. Boris is gay and experimenting with his neighbor Christophe. Their experimentation turns to love and the two young men move to Paris. And then their love withers away as well. Reuniting at home the wounds open and new threats emerge. (French with English subtitles)

 -- Scott Cranin