A Violent Life

French filmmaker Thierry de Peretti draws from real events and his own past for this drama set in the culture of violence that plagued Corsica, a Mediterranean island under French rule, in the 1990s and early 2000s. Stéphane (Jean Michelangeli) is a serious, philosophically-minded young man hiding out in Paris who returns home to Corsica for the funeral of two friends (executed in the opening scene of the film), despite a threat to his life. The story of how he got there then unfolds in flashback. The backdrop is explained in a few opening notes: nationalists fighting to free the island from French rule have split into rival factions and are battling the growing Mafia, the French police, and each other. Stéphane becomes radicalized after a short stint in prison for stashing weapons used in terrorist attacks. He recruits his friends, who are involved in smuggling and petty crimes, but their halfhearted commitment ends up putting the movement in danger and they become targets. The political stakes are confusing—the Corsican struggle is little known to American audiences and the screenplay never really explains the differences between rival factions—and with so many characters and conflicts to chart, it's a hard film to follow. Ultimately, A Violent Life works best as a drama about how a smart, apolitical student is turned into a political radical within a culture mired in violence. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)