By Roger Costa
RED ISLAND
A 10-year old boy’s vivid imagination is expanded as he finds escape reading a comic book about a masked hero fighting injustice. While gradually entering puberty, and experiencing his own rapid hormonal changings, Thomas is deeply immersed in the adults’ emotional transitions, as themselves try to deal with the sense of distance.
It’s early 1970’s in Madagascar and Thomas is venturing through the Island. There he meets a perfect match, a girl of the same age who refuses to surrender to weakness patterns. They both now observes the humanitarian, social, political and environmental conflicts, making their way into it with a sense of innocence soon to be broken.
Drawing from his personal childhood experiences, award- winning director Robin Campillo’s adventurous drama is a richly textured and innovative portrait of modern colonialism.
Living in a French Military base among his parents and always surrounded by people, meetings, parties, and going-outs Thomas sees everything through his candid, sometimes magical, sometimes realistic eyes. He will learn new lessons, will get seduced, get disappointed and eventually, lost.
Precociously wise and graceful, Thomas brings life to the crime caper told in the stories he reads while sharing thoughts on the adults’ behavior, and exploring his own identity in insightful conversations with his friend.
A heartfelt, thoughtful coming of age story, superbly shot and seductively acted, this is a masterwork in sensibility and creativity. Looking at his own childhood memories, Campillo proves his commitment to truthfulness, making it a universal and relatable story. Most importantly, he makes an accurate historical approach to that period of revolt, that never feels political demanding, yet delivers it as an entertaining, enchanting perfect summer getaway.
(Film Movement. 8/16. Film at Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street, Manhattan)
Comments