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Fred Cook European Cinema Feb. 16th 2004
Class began with Dr. Reimer passing out the second series of questions that are due Feb. 18th for the movie La femme Nikita. He also gave a brief overview of the movie and gave clues as to how we should review the film. Dr. Reimer noted that La femme Nikita is very European in nature, but the entertaining aspect is a way in which the film combats Hollywood. He also pointed out that the ending is very European because it leaves the viewer with no solution or complete ending. Luc Besson was the director of the film. Throughout the movie it helps to review the questions in order to grasp the meaning of the film.
La femme Nikita begins with Nikita and her other comrades robbing a medical store for drugs by which she is apparently addicted. They then encounter the owner of the store and a gun fight begins that results in the lives of all her friends being taken and a few policemen. She is taken to jail for murdering one such officer. She is sentenced to imprisonment, but after her court hearing she is injected with a sedative so that it looks as if she committed suicide. With her being though dead the government can then do what they wish with her. Throughout the rest of the film she is chosen to become a trained assassin for the government and given a new life. Her training involves hand to hand combat, marksmanship, computer training, and feminine social skills that she lacks. The women to teaches her these feminine qualities is an actress known for her beauty in French films. Although this actress is known for not liking make up in her own life she is seen applying make up to Nikita. After three years of training Nikita is ready to enter the outside world. Bob her trainer and mentor takes her out to eat at an elaborate restaurant. He slips her a present during the meal. Inside is Nikita’s first handgun that she is supposed to use to kill a VIP nearby. It is neat to see how the gun is enclosed in such beautiful wrapping paper and to the unfortunate it looks like an innocent gift. Maybe Besson was trying to symbolize Nikita threw this present. After killing her victims she is told to escape a certain way through the restaurant, but finds that the exit window is bricked over. She must battle her way out of the fire fight to reach safety and manages to do so. The next day she is released from her training ground to find a life in France while also caring out her deathly missions. The film goes on to show how she falls in love with a man and yet she struggles to hide her job from him. On a trip to Venice she is expecting to travel and vacation with her love, but finds herself carrying out just another mission that Bob has assigned to her. In the scene where she is sniping a victim you can see the inner struggle and the entrapment of Nikita. Finally Nikita is made to plan her own mission to find much needed information from an ambassador. In the wake of the mission plans go astray and she again finds death all around her. The movie concludes with Nikita leaving both her fiancée and Bob because she could not live with what she had become. The imprisoning life she lived was too much to bare and she wanted much more out of life. The day of the movie class ran over. You can watch the copy of La femme Nikita by borrowing it from Dr. Reimer. Questions for this film are due the following Wednesday, Feb 18th.
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