In Denis' debut film, she explores the social dynamics of a French household during the closing days of colonial rule in West Africa. The bulk of the film is seemingly the flashback of a young adult French woman returning to her childhood African home after living abroad - though this perspective doesn't entirely hold during certain scenes. As an American moviegoer - and thus quite familiar with the baggage of colonial rule - I wasn't surprised by any of the themes suggested/addressed by this picture: second class citizenship, interracial lust, varying degrees of loathing of the colonists toward the ruled, the inescapable resentment that the ruled have towards the colonists. Consequently, I found the film less than compelling. Though competently told, the story shed no new light the complexities of colonial rule - the suggestion that the problems of colonial rule are visible in the microcosm of a household as in the macrocosm of a revolution is nothing new. However, these politics were handled in a minimalist fashion that gave the movie a relaxed if occasionally boring pacing - a pacing that was bearable thanks to DP Robert Alazraki beautifully capturing Cameroon's landscape. I quietly recommend this movie if no other reason than the fact that it is the first film from a major new French auteur.
Review of Chocolat
