Review of Beau Travail (2000) by Demonic N — 22 Sep 2004

European minimalist cinema is often not the easiest type of film to watch (some might say "sit through"), but what it lacks in flair it frequently makes up for in ideas. Case in point: Claire Denis' [i]Beau Travail[/i], a slow-moving, stark portrayal of a French Foreign Legion unit in Africa, which is never flashy but serves as a potent allegory and scathing political critique nonetheless.

[i]Beau Travail[/i] is not just set in Africa - it appears to personify Africa in the Legionnaires, pushed around by a superior, Galoup, who wants what's best for himself and doesn't care if they go spinning out of control. At once a critique of France's history in Africa as well as a metaphor for it, the film also goes after the military lifestyle. Denis paints it as curiously homoerotic - Galoup is the model Legionnaire, but he desires attention from his commanding officer, and plots revenge when one of the men he commands, Sentain, receives that attention instead.

Denis pays more attention to the culture of Djibouti, where the movie is set, than she would have to if the movie were more direct. The references to France's African policy are myriad, though. Galoup screams at one Legionnaire that as a member of the French Legion, he is "no longer African." The Africans glimpsed throughout the film seem plainly resentful of the French presence.

[i]Beau Travail[/i] seems to condone the removal of troops from Africa - the Africans don't want them there and the men seem a bit off-kilter after spending so much time in a remote wasteland by the Red Sea. Denis lingers on sometimes silly-looking exercises as if to question their purpose, which adds to the military critique. So does Galoup's return to France - once there, he cannot do anything that does not fall into his old military routine in one way or another. He is a man who has been ruined by order.

With an ironic title as bitter as most of the proceedings, [i]Beau Travail[/i] is a cutting look at military culture and latter-day French imperialism that hits a lot of targets. It may be a minor ordeal (even at just 90 minutes) due to its general quietness and slow pace, but anyone who can make it through will be rewarded with a lot to think about.