White Material

The latest film from Claire Denis, an excellent tale of colonialism and its conclusions.
We open with many shots taken from a wobbly, presumably handheld camera. These give us an impression of very much a closeness to the land, a real 'grittiness', as though we are indeed in the engine of that old truck, or rolling around among the vivid, though rather washed out, red earth. This aesthetic, if not in quite so strong a manner, is kept for the rest of the film. At the risk of being naive, we saw this film as perhaps the most accurate evocation of place in so far as central Africa, due to its ability to show us at once the heat but also the level of squalor that goes with the rather fatigued beauty. Touches of rust, of falling stonework and so on, throughout lent great acuity to our sensations.
The use of a very 'personal' camera style makes this in many ways a second person narrative; in a sense we have an omniscient view, but for long times we also simply stick to your central character. The shots of her are well done, not so much lingering as within her presence. The performance is fine, restrained, not too hysterical (O.K., the final shot perhaps a little....).
This is an art house film, in so far as the narrative is disjointed, not strongly driving or leading to big climaxes. This makes the achivement of the film in its ability to grip all the more remarkable. One is drawn into the tale through the ability to see the action through the eyes of many characters, perhaps it would have been a little self indulgent if we had stuck to the white settler. This is always a risk in a colonialist film, but Denis neither denies the 'otherness', or denies humanity, to those who are colonised.
The use of child soldiers is shocking, and may raise ethical questions about the filming. This does not mean that what is on screen is in any way objectionable. The gripping, creeping, deferred sense of horrors at once counterbalanced by our attachment to the pure whiteness of the film centre is perfectly executed.
Overall, an intelligent colonialist study, not scary to give us proper characters, to not subordinate all to story, while at the same time keeping us on 'tenderhooks as to conclusions. Excellent.