White Material

I appreciate its artistic merits. This is clearly well-made. But much like Denis' previous film 35 rhums, it feels rather distant. The lack of political context also made the whole thing a tad pointless.

The white woman's burden examined with Denis' typical subdued storytelling, where she employs elongation (walking through fields, driving through the African nothingsness etc.) and elliptical storytelling (the bloodbath takes all of 15 seconds and three or four clips) in equal measures. It's fucking bold - and works almost as well here as in her masterpiece "Beau Travail". Huppert is mesmerizing as a woman, who can't - or rather: won't - face the impending postcolonial cleansing.

A perfect example of how it's possible to fully appreciate the aims and ideas of a film, and yet still not enjoy the film itself. Even though I know I wasn't exactly meant to emphasize with them, I just couldn't stand the characters -- particularly Huppert's arrogant lead. It was a great film. Or awful. Both, I guess.

I really liked it. However, and this might be completely wrong, the two Denis films I've watched (Trouble Every Day and this) both felt a little 'cold'. I never got fully invested in it, but it is really well-shot, has a great performance from Huppert and is in many ways great.

A clear-eyed look at the self-delusion of the expatriate who thinks that they are naturalised. Very beautifully filmed, it captures Africa so well.

I always felt that Denis's strongest films were here African ones, Chocolat and Beau Travail. Her passion for Africa's issues shone through and those pictures scintillated with power. Her latest distills that passion to an even greater energy. The film is brimming with unrest and tension, and shows an intimate portrait of a fertile Africa self-destructing because of the white man's greed. But it's not that black-and-white, it's a very complex film and so beautiful to look at too. Huppertastic!

I like this film quite a bit as a character study, but I don't think I like it as much as many folks seem to. I don't think I see the politics of this film as being quite so straightforward. I see Huppert ... who is magnificent in this film ... refusing to leave what she sees as the only home she has. I don't know that I buy it as her "ignoring" the danger so much as not caring about the danger since she sees no other option.

Appreciated the setting, the look, and the rhythm of this. Huppert is interesting as always. But everything feels way too on the nose, too obviously symbolic, leaving this less than the sum of its parts. One of Denis' weaker films, in my view.

u know when you're falling asleep but somehow still awake? thats how this felt. dreamy, but not in the good way. the way she's thinking over everything in the bus is fantastic. her blind commitment to the plantation, a revolutionary's resilience, a husband caught in the web, the son's depression and trauma coiling to spring a destructive break where he celebrates with the child soldiers, locals who flee vs ones who stay. it is capturing. and not to mention the ending: grief, guilt, revenge

I'm very sympathetic to people who find this sort of fare pretentious, but it works for me. It's frustrating at first, that the pieces don't connect and the sequence jumps around, but there's a real pay-off. Because of all the gaps, you can't come away satisfied, thinking, "Hey, hey! Because I watched this two-hour movie, I understand something about X historical conflict." I haven't seen many movies so willing to dwell on the chaos and contradictions of decolonization.

I always appreciate the political and artistic energy of Denis's work, but she's gotten more heavy-handed with time. Not for the better, in my opinion. Beau Travail and No Fear, No Die have a rare grace that is present but harder to find in White Material and maybe entirely absent in High Life.

A reconstructive topsy-turvy look at the post-colonial situation: if the culture into which we are born becomes our second nature, isn't the "white" creole the native of the colony as well? This question drives the whole "diluted narrative" economy of Denis. I also liked her bold attitude in embracing the human reality of being grounded in a place, and having "kin" relations. Even Huppert resorts to violence to avenge her son's death, despite being stubbornly hopeful. Bold bold movie.

Estreou há dez anos no Festival de Veneza. O cinema de Denis nos deixa apreensivos por toda a sua extensão pois em dado momento você verá algum tipo de atrocidade chocante na tela, neste que talvez seja o melhor filme pós-colonial do século XXI não é diferente, mas o interessante é que as atrocidades são mais sugestivas do que propriamente visualizadas, o que indica o próprio acorbertar colonial de uma era. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

(2nd viewing, 1st:85)

A difficult movie, but absolutely beautifully shot.

Tense and complex doom-laden tale of violence, madness and horror in postcolonial Africa.

This was a little disjointed but a great performance from Huppert. The Highlander is pretty good as well but his character is never fully developed.

Although a very well made film,I found White Material Slightly laborious until the very abrupt ending. This relates events but doesn't really make a judgement.

"It's a testament to the artistic expectations raised by Denis that, after the astonishing fugue of The Intruder and the vibrant intimacy of 35 Shots of Rum, even as strong and stirring a picture as White Material seems comparatively conventional." - Fernando F. Croce

Denis in top form. Something of a return to her elliptical, impressionistic style after the relatively more straight-forward 35 Rhums, as well as a partial revisitation of the subject matter of her debut Chocolat, albeit in a far darker vein. Perhaps not as sensual or immersive, nor quite as abstract, as her masterpieces L'Intus and Beau travail, the film nonetheless clearly carries the distinctive fingerprint of one of the finest directors working today.

A piece all about detail and ambience, which is portrays excellently. Nice lead performances. Everything else is pretty naff to be honest.

Denis' storytelling draw you in, but, unless I missed somethind. the film seems to cover well-worn ground regarding European colonialism.

Very elusive. The film is quite gripping as the situation escalates, and Marie's combination of stubbornness and cluelessness make her tough to sympathize with, but fascinating. Denis never tries to tell us how to feel about her, but often frames her in a way that enhances her sense of otherness and isolation. Huppert's performance is restrained, which makes the eventual cracks in her persona more effective. But in the end I was left not quite knowing how to react. Interesting music.

I'm with JooJoo, calling a bust on Claire Denis (although Beau Travail is not bad.)

More than a political film, Denis' feature is a slow examination of a woman that just can't just leave her possessions, even being in a land where the law is commanded by violence. Keeping the camera so close of the characthers, especially aiming the back of their necks, Denis encapsulates a great amount of tension, in a narrative that announces at every shot that there is a great wave of blood coming.

I think it's time to just call it quits on Claire Denis. At least until I get around to Beau Travail.

Not actually *bad*, but what the dickens is the point? Yet another "it's really fucked up in Africa" movie, in which the heroine and her family suffers and suffers and suffers and suffers... and ultimately it becomes quite dull. The best part is how pleasantly weird it is to see an aging Christopher "Highlander" Lambert in something like this

Denis' elliptical narrative avoids politics. This siege tale ignores the details of colonial life to gloss its chaotic collapse. Her equanimity is tiresome.