Africa is a ridiculous continent. One of the coolest books I ever read, the Poisonwood Bible, is set in the Belgium Congo. The white family in the book experienced famine, killer ants, black mambas, and deadly diseases. They also witnessed regime change, militias, war refugees, and foreigners exploiting the land with diamond and rubber mines. This stuff seems to happen in Africa all the time. I am all about traveling and adventure, but Africa scares the f--- out of me.
In White Material, Africa is at its most ridiculous. French forces are leaving an un-named African country. Rebel militias are roaming the countryside. The radio calls for anarchy. Child soldiers take up machetes, rifles, and berets. White people are burned alive in their mansions.
At the center of the story is a white woman, actress Isabelle Hubbert, who refuses to leave her coffee plantation. This woman, Maria, is about the craziest woman I have seen on screen in a long time. Everybody tells her to run to the border. The French army, her African workers, the mayor, her husband, nobody can get through to her. She wants to harvest her coffee.
The racial tension is thick on the plantation. Maria has to tolerate her husband (Highlander's Christoper Lambert) Andre's black mistress and mulatto son. While she runs the plantation, Andre negotiates for protection behind her back.
Alone, Maria attempts to survive while the world around her crumbles. Her workers desert her and she is terrorized by thugs that she recognizes by name when she travels to the village. She puts herself in greater danger by granting refuge to a rebel leader on her land. A severed goat’s head appears in a bag of coffee.
The cinematography in this film is amazing. It was shot on location in the western African country of Cameroon. There are shots of misty green mountains and dense forests. One of the most powerful sequences includes a full-frontal shot of a man’s penis. I don’t want to make it a habit of seeing those things in my movies, but in this case, it fits well with the horror of the scene.
The acting is great. Writer/Director Claire Denis focuses on Huppert for intense close-ups revealing Maria’s fire and determination. Thin, Huppert is shot lifting bags, driving tractors, and holding on for her life on the back of a moving truck. Her physicality is made heroic by her circumstances and her size, not to mention her gender.
Social themes are explored throughout the film but never fully explained. Everything is revealed slowly, if at all. There is a sparse quality to the writing that is very effective. A complicated history seems to weigh on all the members of Maria’s family but the war outside the plantation prevents the film from getting too caught up with it.
The ending is violent and abrupt, and hints at the continuation of bloodshed.
White Material gets a B+. I especially enjoyed the location shots. The story was powerful and Huppert was engaging as Maria. The film was challenging to take in, and dark in its conclusion.
These dark images from Africa need to be seen. This is how people live. Very scary.
No comments:
Post a Comment