THE “WORLD” OPINION – A MUST SEE
In Claude Barras, the animation is not smooth, life leaves marks on the faces and the dolls inside stop motion – set in motion by hand, gesture after gesture – exudes mastery. After his success My Pumpkin Life (2016)about the adventures of a boy placed in an orphanage, savages follows the awakening of a teenage girl on the island of Borneo, abused by deforestation: Gogeter Keria, confronted with the activities of a multinational that methodically cuts down trees, will struggle and reconnect with her origins.
Keria lives in the city with her father, who works on an oil palm plantation. His mother died a long time ago and the rest of the family lives independently in the forest (indigenous Penan people). The island of Borneo is also known for its endangered orangutans. The film opens with a sequence inspired by reality, which sees a female orangutan trying to block a bulldozer. Keria and her father witness the scene, the animal is shot, and the little girl has time to retrieve the baby monkey. The director does not seek to dilute the reality, while injecting a lot of humor and tenderness into the story – let’s add some magnetic appearances of wild animals.
It is the arrival of a second cousin in the house of Keria and her father that sets off the adventures. Selaï usually lives in the forest with her parents. Keria is not happy sharing her room with this boy who she looks down on and who seems far removed from her way of life. Unwilling, Selaï quickly flees and returns to his family, taking the baby orangutan. Keria follows him, and we leave! Along the way, they meet a dedicated, sharp-tongued scientist (voiced by Laetitia Dosch).
A nomadic life
Keria’s meeting with her grandparents sparks a realization that is never bombastic. savages is an adventure film carried by the humor of the situations and the agility of the dialogues. A lot of detail in the making of the puppets testifies to the fieldwork and listening done by the film crew, especially with the primatologists. The script had to be as believable as it was respectful.
Born in 1973, the son and grandson of farmers, Claude Barras remembers his grandparents who lived in nature and led a nomadic life in the Alps region, moving from the plains to the mountains throughout the seasons. Later, “modernity” brought its share of tools and chemicals to his parents’ farm. Implicitly, the film questions the relationship with the land and agri-food practices. Who is the savage, the one who lives in a canvas or the one who arrives in his car to cut down the trees and drive out the inhabitants? We guess the answer, but the suspense is well maintained.
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