Eight Years Later My Life as a Zucchini Premiering at Directors’ Fortnight, two-time César Award winner (and one Oscar nominee), Swiss director Claude Barras returns to Cannes. BarbarianAn emotive stop-motion allegory about rampant deforestation on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.
A tight battle lasting 87 minutes. Barbarian The film gets us straight into the action when pre-tree Kelia and her palm oil extractor father witness their employer murder an orangutan. The murder is heartbreaking, even though it happens off-screen. The father-daughter duo move quickly to hide the surviving baby orangutan in a bag. This harrowing opening scene Barbarian It conveys that the death and destruction at the heart of the story is not something that should be sugar-coated for children.
This adorable orangutan, named Osi because of the sound he makes when he sneezes, is a living stuffed animal for 11-year-old Kelia, mainly as an accessory – a selfie-maker. Things get complicated for Kelia when her cousin Serai (Martin Verset) comes to live with them. Serai is from the nomadic Penan tribe, and when conflict between the Penan and palm oil companies comes to a head, the family wants to move him somewhere safe.
Like the best kids movies, Barbarian Kelia is unafraid to display the cruelty kids inflict as soon as their social status is compromised, Kelia openly ignores her queer cousin; she passes as white, but Serai would not; he is proud of his roots; Serai’s presence at school makes her Penan roots clear to her classmates; and all of this unfolds like a stop-motion classic. Fantastic Mr. Foxexcept in reverse: In that episode, visiting cousin Kristofferson was the cool one, and Ash lamented his arrival.
Following a typical storyline, after Serai grows tired of Keria’s verbal abuse, he runs off with Osi into the forest, with Keria chasing him. Like the enchanted forest-set opening, this middle section set in the dense Borneo rainforest is a highlight of the animation. BarbarianHerzogian danger lurks around every corner for these young kids.
Stop-motion animation is almost miraculously rare to see in theaters, especially in esteemed venues like Cannes. Computer animation still figures prominently in festival programs around the world, typically in the shorts category. But stop-motion has a unique quality that allows you to witness a level of attention to detail that is even more apparent when experienced on the big screen. Barbarian and My Life as a ZucchiniBarras has proven himself to be one of the top directors working in the field today, and we can only hope his next feature film comes sooner than eight years from now.
Barbarian We work with educational NGOs on harmful activities in Borneo. Impact campaigns have come a long way since the text appeared on the screen at the end of Edward Zwick’s film. Blood Diamond He begged the audience not to buy blood diamonds, but that’s a stupid strategy. If you need a final line to convince the audience, the previous film is a total failure. Stories and documentaries with a clear message and a targeted impact strategy are tricky to handle. During the editing process, you may feel the urge to get that message across most clearly. Thankfully, this is not the case. Barbarianis happy to engage with that messy complexity, examining how corporations manipulate families’ harsh economic realities by offering the only viable jobs to people who may not believe in the company’s mission but who have no other choice: They can’t starve. Barbarian Questioning the idea that progress is inherently good does not mean rejecting modernization altogether. For example, Serai’s Penan grandfather is unashamedly a mobile phone user. Serai goes to school in Keria not only for safety, but also because his family wants him to learn.
By distance, Barbarian While it may seem like a simple David vs. Goliath, community vs. corporate interests, Barras is always mindful that the complexities of these conversations must be considered as well. And while the conversations are designed to help kids keep up with their adult counterparts, there’s a recognition that the earlier kids are exposed to these nuances, the better prepared they’ll be to take a stand. Most importantly, Barbarian It achieves this in a beautifully animated, narratively compelling, tightly packed package.
Barbarian It will premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
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