[CRITICAL] A knock-about LIFE

For his second feature film, A life violent, Thierry de Peretti recounts the ways of novels of young men embedded in the nationalist struggles, the corsicans.

From the first minutes ofA LIFE-VIOLENT, the film director Thierry de Peretti invites the viewer to enter into the heart of the matter. Men who are discussing in the distance, and then kill suddenly two, a bullet in the head coldly, in the eyes of the peasants, who do not intervene. The table is laid, chilling. Some explanations will be given in the course of the story, but no more. Met at the Festival International du Film de La Rochelle, the director wanted the viewer “to accept not to understand precisely the context of the armed struggle nationalist corsica to the end of the 90’s”. Some viewers may be put off at the idea of having to stay in the blur. But anyway, it is almost mission impossible, for that is not a corsican, to try to grasp all the ins and outs, which combine the political issues, the weight of tradition, of culture, of identity, of families and of the language but also the influences of the environment of corsica and the French government within this territory.

Who knows even today that many of the young corsican engaged in fighting, and then got lost in internecine conflicts in which the stakes exceed ? Many have paid with their lives for having wanted to play in the Big league, tried to get out or took advantage of the situation. A LIFE of VIOLENT plunges in this tumultuous period and shows the journey of a band of three childhood friends – Stéphane (Jean Michelangeli), Christophe (Henri-Noël Tabary) and Michel (Cédric Appietto).

Thierry de Peretti is the most “attached to show the point of view of fiction, so that the viewer can connect with the reality of the emotional characters”. And a point of view rooted in empathy, rather, it has reached its goal since, throughout the ups and downs in her life, it feels perfectly what it feels like to Stéphane. A student, he did a stint in prison, where he meets those who will make their education a nationalist. Stéphane thinks, researches, develops opinions of her own, revealing his awareness of political and ideological. Far from being hare-brained as some of his comrades, he needs to give meaning to his actions. But as he found himself “surrounded by the cobweb of the complexity of the events,” giving body to the rise of inexorable violence.

”Living a Life of Violent looks without judgement or complacency on the lost generation corse”

The director spares us none of the steps traversed by Stéphane, since the channeling of his rage original until its demise inevitable. It perfectly describes the game of rhetoric, political engagement, trust in leaders, the hope and enthusiasm generated by the armed struggle, the pride found. And then the failover, the doubt, the silence, the bidding, the shame, the fear, the test of friendship, the temptation of the Continent, the impossible return back, the loneliness and finally, the inevitability of its fate.

Despite a mixture of different formats (fades to black, flashbacks, long travelling, faces cut off), which weighs down a little the stage, the realism of A LIFE that is VIOLENT, much to the situations for the dialogues, is striking. This can be explained by the way the director uses the different materials at his disposal. Man of the theatre, the director has the habit of “creating a shared vision through the writing board and the collective work in the Workshop”. The actors corsicans are, for the majority of them, unknown to the screen. Their comments and those of other people encountered during the castings have nourished the thoughts and enriched the dialogues and the screenplay co-written with Guillaume Breaud – we encourage you to see the documentary Fight Youth, built from filmed interviews. Other texts have also inspired the film director, like that of the irish writer Robert McLiam Wilson, My Rage is ungovernable.

A LIFE that is VIOLENT is therefore a powerful film that takes a look without judgment, but without complacency, no more, on this “lost generation” and also raised a question on how everyone can find their place and, perhaps, escape his destiny.

Sylvie-Noelle

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