'Coward', emotional story of love between soldiers at the time of the Great War
A love story between two soldiers at the time of the First World War: the starting subject would be enough to give 'Coward', one of the latest films in competition, the right attention
This is the third feature film by Lukas Dhont, a Belgian director and screenwriter born in 1991, who had already explored the theme of sexuality in non-simple contexts with his two previous films, 'Girl' and 'Close'.
In the most difficult moments of the Great War, Pierre joins the Belgian militia at the front, trying to adapt to an extremely complicated situation. Here he meets Francis, a young man who tries to lift the spirits of his compatriots by putting on funny performances and plays in which he disguises himself as a woman and involves other fellow soldiers. As the violence becomes increasingly unbearable, both men try to escape the brutality of war by starting a forbidden but very passionate relationship.
More than a war film, "Coward" is above all a love film, a film that continually focuses on Pierre's gazes at the world around him: from his eyes, worried and frightened by the difficulties he is called upon to overcome, we pass to the point of view of a boy who gradually falls in love with a boy of his own age, coming to feel a sentiment that is perhaps unthinkable given the space-time context in which they find themselves.
