French filmmaker Claire Denis’ (Beau Travail, 35 Shots of Rum) returns to Sub-Saharan Africa with White Material, a brutal and unflattering look at post-colonialism. Set in an unnamed country, with elements of Zimbabwe and Kenya’s recent history and similarities to Sierra Leone and Liberia’s civil wars, this film focuses in on one white family, more specifically one woman, Maria Vial (the always impressive- Isabelle Huppert, The Time of the Wolf) and her coffee plantation. Caught between the rebels and the Army, both who view the remaining white residents with disdain, Maria is determined to harvest the latest crop, ignoring the obvious and ever encroaching danger.
The happy façade that seems to exist between the Vial family and the larger black community, is quickly dissolved as the tension heightens. Despite urging from French forces, Maria refuses to leave, much to the disgust of her black workers, who have no way to avoid the approaching bloodshed.
White Material is both compelling and repellent. Maria’s irrational resolve and lack of concern for those around her, including her already unhinged son, Manuel (played superbly by Nicolas Duvauchelle) are frustrating to watch. It is hard not to shout at the screen to urge the characters to take a different journey, even though the inevitability of the story is displayed by Denis from the outset.
While Denis captures the beauty of the landscape with its sun-hazed colours, the camera’s jitteriness and jolts, which reflects the frenetic energy of the film’s content, soon outstay their welcome and ultimately detracts from the story, making the film physically hard to watch at times.
White Material engages in an important dialogue, tapping into the tragedy of child soldiers and the vacuum of power left in post-colonial African countries, especially those rich with natural resources. Unfortunately the high expectations (fairly or not) attached by this reviewer to the film are not entirely met. Despite excellent performances from its cast- including Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as André Vial and Isaach De Bankolé (The Limits of Control) as the rebel- Le Boxeur, the film lacks narrative structure and fails to give the characters the motivations needed to make their actions understandable. That said White Material establishes such a powerful sense of atmosphere that it’s still a cut above the vast majority of what is currently on offer at the cinema.
