My Writings
Review - White Material
Director Claire Denis was born in France but raised in colonial Africa
and her latest movie re-explores the themes that were central to that
part of her life. Enlisting the services of seminal French actress
Isabelle Huppert and filming the movie sympathetically towards the
death of
French colonialism, Denis portrays Maria Vial (Huppert) as being
between a rock and a hard place, as growing political unrest is
de-stabalising the community around her. Portrayed as a-political,
Maria is motivated by the desire to harvest her coffee beans despite a
military
coup, and possibly another one on top of that, getting closer and
closer to home.
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Apart from the obvious dangers from tribal and political extremism, she faces extreme apathy from her son, and resolute resignation from her husband, Christopher Lambert who cuts a deal with the local authorities. Vial wants a reward for her hard efforts, but becomes increasingly isolated and resigned to the fruitlessness of this.
For Huppert, this was far too easy, and the blame must be with the director. Her character needed more anger, determination and ruthlessness to really show us what Huppert can do. The story was very slight, so needed to be more atmospheric, and the script was okay but needed to be more dynamic, and the editing seemed rushed. The timelines were confusing, and went backwards and forwards without much warning - the best way to keep track of this was to keep an eye on the dress Vial was wearing.
The producers may have lost their nerve as to how to end the movie and in terms of what messages it was trying to convey. Maria aside, every character seemed generally incompetent, but the film was grounded well and acted well, and there were some nice set plays in the remoteness of the African jungle.
My Rating : 4/10 Insubstantive
Review written by John Franklin : September 2010
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