White Material

Movie: White Material

Cast:    Isabelle Huppert          (Maria)

            Christopher Lambert   (Andre)

            Nicolas Duvauchelle   (Manuel)

Genre: drama

I saw it on: January 2, 2011

Synopsis: The movie takes place in an unnamed African country.  This country is in the midst of a violent rebellion. Maria and her ex-husband Andre have a coffee plantation.  Maria’s son, Manuel, also lives on the planation.  The French have been evacuated, but Maria refuses to go until her coffee bean crop is harvested.  The movie follows her efforts to get native help to do the harvest as rebels over-run the country, her life is continually in jeopardy and her deadbeat son Manuel goes off the deep end.  As a side story, she is harboring a wounded rebel leader at the plantation.

My two cents: This was a puzzler.  I never really got the point of the movie, unless it was just to show how a dangerously stubborn woman would behave in this setting.  The ending really left me up in the air.  I was hoping for some kind of resolution, but then the credits started rolling.  Not my cup of tea.

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