Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- sardonic
- absurd
- bleak
- arthouse film night
- political cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Godard's politically charged war satire as inventive and provocative, though its deliberately alienating style can limit accessibility.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ulysses and Michel-Ange are recruited through promises of wealth and become criminals while the film frames wartime behavior as grotesquely irrational.
The brothers return with postcards and promised property rather than meaningful wealth, while the peace treaty reveals the hollowness of the king's promises.
Godard's stylized treatment of soldiers, recruitment, violence, and wartime reward creates critical distance rather than conventional battlefield realism.
Recruiters lure the impoverished brothers with promised riches and future property, but the promised reward becomes a mechanism of exploitation.
Films like The Carabineers, and why
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
shared anti-war satire, absurdist comedy, and formally confrontational political filmmaking
The Firemen's Ball
shared allegorical war violence, bleak absurdity, and anti-militarist themes
Weekend
shared french new wave experimentation, political anger, and fragmented comic drama
The Tin Drum
shared theatrical anti-war imagery, grotesque humor, and critique of militarized power
Movie Details
- Director
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Release Date
- 1963-05-31
- Runtime
- 80 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (99)
Cast
- Marino Masé
- Patrice Moullet
- Geneviève Galéa
- Catherine Ribeiro
- Barbet Schroeder
- Jean-Louis Comolli
- Gérard Poirot
- Jean Brassat
- Alvaro Gheri
- Odile Geoffroy
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Carabineers about?
- An impoverished pair of brothers chase promised wartime riches, only to discover that military glory is a machinery of exploitation and ruin.
- What is The Carabineers like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Carabineers as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Carabineers violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Carabineers as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Carabineers?
- Critics broadly regard Godard's politically charged war satire as inventive and provocative, though its deliberately alienating style can limit accessibility.
- Which films are like The Carabineers?
- Films with a similar feel include Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Firemen's Ball, Weekend, and The Tin Drum.
- How long is The Carabineers?
- The Carabineers runs 80 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Carabineers?
- In United States, The Carabineers streams on Criterion Channel.
