For a book that few people know or have read, James George Frazer The Golden Bough (1890) had enough An impact on cult cinema, especially in the 1970s. For reasons that would take too long to enter here – and thanks to its influence on the 1949 book by Joseph Campbell The hero with a thousand faces – It turns out that the investigation into Frazer’s non-fiction on religion, mythology, folk tales and the subsequent journey to science have since shaped films as far as far as The wicker manthe very first Star WarsAnd Apocalypse now. Well, you would never necessarily put these three films on a triple ticket, but, once you see it, there East A certain overlap, mainly in the concept of the involuntary hero, a man chosen by fate, and not necessarily for the best.
In this spirit, the Greek-French director Romain Gavras SacrificeIts beginnings in English arrives at a very interesting moment in world history. Although towards the outside a blunt comedy (in a way), it is a film which, through its central character, asks questions about research real Heroism in the fog of tokenism.
This character is Mike Tyler (Chris Evans), a Hollywood star recovers from a recent nervous breakdown and attends an ecological charitable feast for the Super-Super which takes place in a fantastically austere Greek mine. Tyler, in conflict even about his own attendance, is skeptical about everyone’s motivations and says it, calling the star guest of the event, the environmental billionaire Ben Bracken (Vincent Cassel), on a live video flow for his hypocritical policy, condemning the mining of fossil fuels still happy to exploit the sea for energy.
To go back, Gavras’s film is a strange fish in this regard, because, despite the comic veneer, its program is in fact very real, and this is how it begins. Before meeting Tyler, we see Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy) supervising the funeral of her own mother (who, disturbing, may not be dead yet). Joan is the leader of what looks like a teenage militia of The village of Damné (1960 or 1995, make your choice), and it is on a mission. “The old way must burn towards Ash,” she said, under the controls of a neighboring volcano. This is what guides her, and her two brothers and sisters, to storm the event and take his guests hostage – while Tyler is in the bathroom, licking his injuries after his moment of microphone fall becomes horribly viral.
The Gala himself is worthy of Tardif as you can expect, the imminent climate disaster set out in the private asset public through – what else? – The medium of an interpretative dance battle and a sign of neon saying “make the Earth cool again”. In fact, it is so cheesy that it takes guests for a while to realize that Joan and his army are not part of entertainment either; It is only when the blood begins to flow that they realize that it is serious. At that time, Tyler enters the room and is abandoned by the terrified crowd (and, more importantly, anointed by Joan) as one of the three people – including Bracken and one of the dancers of the series – who must make the titular sacrifice of the film to save the world from an imminent disaster.
In hostage, Tyler obtains Stockholm syndrome very early, taking all this to be students of Hijinks (“no justice, no peace”, he roared the media), in the big one of Bracken, who accuses him of promoting what he calls “Green Isis”. The report of the laughter of the drama changes fairly strongly, however, while Joan takes off his hostages in their journey, leading to a link with Tyler and to many unexpected revelations on the history of Joan.
You might think that you know where all this is going, and the script covers many of these bases, most of them involving Egos from movie stars and their power and their privilege in the real world. But Sacrifice is interesting, not only because it takes risks even in its own of their kind Genre (note to oneself: is the folk horror of science fiction still one thing?) But because it is actually quite clear in its thought: what is a sacrifice in today’s world?
As Tyler, Evans holds the film surprisingly well, given the twists and turns (in history as well as the tone) which await it, and the Taylor-Joy in the face of poker, never more serious (and which plays very convincingly younger than it is), is a big leaf to that. To make things even more entertaining, John Malkovich appears as what seems, briefly, being the voice of reason.
In short, it’s crazy and not for everyone. But Sacrifice To a message, and it is the hemoboros – the perpetual self -manger serpent – which is the performative reaction of the world to climate change. It goes further than where you don’t think so, and the emotional gain of this could well survive the jokes.
Title: Sacrifice
Festival: Toronto (special presentations)
Director: Romain Gavras
Screenwriter: Will Arbery, Romain Gavras
Casting: Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek Pinault, John Malkovich, Ambika Mod, Charli Xcx and Jonatan “Yung Lean” Leandoer
Sales agent: Rocket
Operating time: 1 h 43 minutes
