Red Island
French Cinema
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Drama, History, Independent
Living on one of the last remaining military bases amidst a hedonistic group of French armed forces in 1970s Madagascar, ten-year-old Thomas begins to find cracks in the surface of his family’s blissful existence on the idyllic island. Taking inspiration from his comic book hero Fantômette, he spies on those around him, discovering the hidden and tangled political and sexual lives of the colonizers and the colonized. As relocation looms, Thomas questions whether the memories he has made are ones he should remember fondly.
Simultaneously a sensual evocation of discovering the adult world and a sober reflection of what it represents, Robin Campillo’s anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed 120 BPM weaves together the personal and political in a “visually spectacular [and] masterful portrayal of colonialism through a child’s eyes” (The Upcoming).
“Lush, perceptive...The film has a miraculous ability to ground itself in reality while also retaining, in Thomas, the feeling of a tender childhood naiveté.” –Wall Street Journal
DIRECTED BY ROBIN CAMPILLO
FRANCE, BELGIUM, MADAGASCAR | 2023 | FRENCH, MALAGASY WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
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