A Film Like Any Other(UN FILM COMMES LES AUTRES)

July 1968, in the outskirts of Paris. Obscured by tall grass, five students and workers meet to discuss the challenges of uniting militants across class lines. Punctuated by newsreel footage of May 1968, A Film Like Any Other is akin to a militant remake of Jean Rouch’s Chronicle of a Summer (1961). The film also marks Godard’s transformation from an activist-filmmaker into a filmmaking activist: the cacophonous soundtrack – a tapestry of voiceovers about past and present struggles in France and abroad – offers a sign of Godard’s sub-summation of his one voice into that of a collective.