White Material

Despair, desolation, and death suffuse Claire Denis' impressionistic film, set in an unnamed African country fractured by civil war. Isabelle Huppert stars as Maria, a French woman determined to remain on the coffee plantation owned by Henri (Michel Subor), her invalid former father-in-law. Maria insists on finding workers to bring in the crop, even though the region is a powder keg, with government troops and rebels (many of them child soldiers) stalking one another, brutalizing and killing locals while searching for an underground leader known as The Boxer (Isaach De Bankolé). Also involved are Maria's ex-husband André (Christopher Lambert), who wants to sell the farm and flee, and her son Manuel (Nicolas Duvauchelle), an irresponsible slacker who—after being humiliated by two young renegades—turns to violence himself. White Material—a derogatory term used by blacks to refer to the French—depicts a society left in tatters by departing Europeans, pointedly illustrating the terrible consequences of colonialism, but it's not a sociopolitical screed. Instead, the situation serves as backdrop to a human drama about the hold that the land, even during a desperate time, continues to have on some longtime residents. Although hardly an easy film to watch, White Material offers a powerful commentary on the modern equivalent of what Joseph Conrad called the heart of darkness. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include interviews with director Claire Denis (24 min.), star Isabelle Huppert (15 min.) and costar Issach de Bankolé (13 min.), a short segment by Denis on the premiere at the 2010 Écrans Noirs Film Festival in Cameroon (13 min.), a deleted scene (2 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by writer Amy Taubin. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a thought-provoking foreign film.] (F. Swietek)