Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello)

[Philip J. Fry]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzFlYzg4YmYtN2JiOC00Y2ZlLT llZGEtNzliZDIyYWQyMDVkXkEyXkFq cGdeQXVyMTMxODk2OTU@._V1_.jpg

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23pNPezU1RI

IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9056192/) / wiki (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombi_Child) / RT (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/zombi_child) / Metacritic (https://www.metacritic.com/movie/zombi-child)

On The Criterion Channel (https://www.criterionchannel.com/zombi-child)

[Stay Puft]

Oh this is definitely a yay, LOL. What a wild trip.

I watched this right after First Cow and it was quite accidentally a great double feature! I said Reichardt's film was about recontextualizing the past, or inviting more direct comparisons between past and present to show how the past continues to inform the present, a drama meant to illustrate a continuity of power in its many forms, that challenge simple narratives of progress; Bonello's film runs with that idea in its bifurcated, byzantine hall of cultural mirrors, beginning with a literal explication of the idea itself. The first scene in the present day involves a professor asking his students to consider how they should think about the history of France, how they should evaluate its popular national narratives of revolution and liberty. The structural twinning of historical Haiti and modern France screams postcolonial metaphor and Bonello craftily uses genre misdirection to show how the threat of colonial violence, as a historical reality, continues to the present day and shapes that present, not strictly with literal violence (France doesn't want its slaves back... does it?) but as a continual churning of power relations that define the possibilities and limitations of modern society, historical violence as diffused in structural systems (including, hilariousy but also astutely, the maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur, the all-girl boarding schools established by Napoleon that provide the present day setting). The film builds to an explosive finale, beginning with a simple enough act of cultural appropriation, that is simultaneously incendiary and risible. Exactly as it should be! I don't want to spoil anything but Zombi Child is patently ridiculously and I absolutely love it.