☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
White Material (2009) -- C. Denis
J. Hoberman used the
word "lysergic" in his review and that's pretty apt because the
Tindersticks soundtrack, used sparingly, does provide a hazy druggy sheen to
parts of the movie. Isabelle Huppert is
determined to ignore the trouble that is all around her as the colonial era
comes to a decided end in her part of Africa.
Claire Denis's film unblinkingly covers the terrain: both rebels and the military armed and
dangerous along with child soldiers seemingly in their own militia and perhaps
much more dangerous. The social and
psychological effects of white settlement (and ownership -- Huppert runs a
coffee plantation) in Africa are the focus -- the unnamed country is divided by
their feelings toward the outsiders (even those born there). Denis, also born and raised in Africa,
provides impressions, images, something of a story, to show the legacy of
(French) involvement and exploitation.
Shot in Cameroon, this is a beautiful horrifying and unresolved film.
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