It's been six years since Robin Campillo was last in the news. His last feature film, 120 Battements par Minute, had won the César for best film in 2017. The Red Island, his new project, is expected in theaters on May 31.
This new film differs radically from the one that made him famous. Where 120 Beats a Minute was edgy, angry and full of life, The Red Island is more contemplative, and its pace is calmer. It's hard to guess that it's the same director, as the two films have nothing in common, except for their autobiographical dimension. Yes, Robin Campillo does not hide it, this film has many similarities with the childhood of the filmmaker.
However, this is not a nostalgic story about an era that he wants to revive, but a rather bitter story. The story of the French soldiers sent to Madagascar in the early 1970s to quell the revolt of the locals. Thomas is the last born of three boys, whose father is a non-commissioned officer in the French Army. The whole family lives in the military base, with the families of other soldiers, which forms a very particular society. Scenes of daily life, disorientation of these exiled Frenchmen, and a family life a little unique, we discover the many aspects of life on the military base, with a strange flavor.
The little Thomas finds himself in the middle of a context that he does not understand, that of the last hours of French colonialism and the last sparks of its illusion. But that's not all, many themes run through the film, which also allows itself some incursions into the world of Fantomette, the book that the child reads throughout the film. These passages, between animation and live-action, are real visual gems that contribute to the unique atmosphere of the film. The Red Island is sometimes contemplative, even dreamlike, in the staging of the lost illusions of these soldiers, and of these children, who see everything, but whom nobody sees.
It is nevertheless a pity that the film pulls a little too many threads, because not all of them are equally well treated, which gives the impression that the story does not know which plot to stick to. It is not clear what story Robin Campillo wants to tell, and the result is a final sequence that is far too stretched out in length.
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