A flashlight clicks on. Wild dogs run across a desolate road. Wooden masks hang haphazardly on a wall. The dead, wounded body of someone called “The Boxer” is splayed on a couch. We have no idea where we are, but the idle commentary and the worn, green military uniforms of the soldiers lurking about suggest Africa. That’s the extent of what is revealed about the locale for the duration of White Material, but the characters we meet tell us more than we could ever imagine about the psychological toll of war on all sides and in between.
Claire Denis crafts a hypnotic parable about the African condition, which punctuates the news cycle every few months when there is a new conflict, but which otherwise remains hidden and ignored. We could be in Guinea, Cameroon, or even Rwanda with its charismatic rebel leaders, terrified and cynical bystanders, corrupt officials, drug-fueled child soldiers, garrisoned white landowners, and opportunistic bandits. Denis places all these groups in stark conflict. There is little to no camaraderie amongst all the competing goals. A white female protagonist, an unrecognizable Isabelle Huppert, appears to be a progressive bridge between these groups, but even her motives are soon clouded.
READ THE REST OF MY REVIEW AT filmlinc blog!
Filed under: Africa, Francophone, Isabelle Huppert, civil war, claire denis, coffee, plantation, white material
