White Material

IFC Films | Release Date: November 19, 2010

6.6	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Ratings

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evancusterDec 16, 2010

I really did not enjoy watching this movie. I was very disappointed, particularly since the critics had given it great reviews. I am sure part of the problem is mine: I am really not that knowledgeable about French colonial west AftricanI really did not enjoy watching this movie. I was very disappointed, particularly since the critics had given it great reviews. I am sure part of the problem is mine: I am really not that knowledgeable about French colonial west Aftrican history. However, even so, I had an extremely hard time figuring out what was going on because there were so many flashbacks and flashforwards. Also, there were no sympathetic characters in the movie. Everyone was crazy: the protagonist was crazy trying to get one last coffee harvest while a brutal civil was was taking place, her son was mad, her husband was crazy, and of course, both sides of the civil war were crazy. I also had difficulty trying to keep track of the characters, as many seemed to look a alike, and there was no character development. I think this is just one of those movies that the critics adore, but the general audience finds incomprehensible.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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alfunsoJan 8, 2011

I agree with Evan. I just finished watching this movie and found it almost unbearable. My girlfriend enjoys movies with "strong female leads" but this one takes it too far. The Isabelle Huppert character made no sense to me. Overall, theI agree with Evan. I just finished watching this movie and found it almost unbearable. My girlfriend enjoys movies with "strong female leads" but this one takes it too far. The Isabelle Huppert character made no sense to me. Overall, the movie was more or less nonsensical, violent, and could even be said to glorify colonialism -- although that just might be me and my EHM political views.

In a way, the movie also reminded me of Tara and Gone With the Wind, another movie that glorified the plantations of the past.

This is the kind of movie that gives foreign films a bad name. And it is a shame that the critics seem to be falling for it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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ShoggothRexMar 27, 2012

Although the film exhibits visual mastery in capturing the brutality and destitution of an African nation in the midst of civil war, and makes excellent use of music and silence, these technical virtues are far overshadowed by its narrativeAlthough the film exhibits visual mastery in capturing the brutality and destitution of an African nation in the midst of civil war, and makes excellent use of music and silence, these technical virtues are far overshadowed by its narrative failings. 'White Material' succeeds in shocking its audience with scenes of both graphic and implicit violence, but the narrative focus of the movie undermines the value of these scenes as vehicles for social enlightenment; 'White Material' is not at all about the social issues of Africa. These are tangential. Instead, it follows the story of a French white woman, Maria Vial, managing a failing coffee plantation against the advice of every single person in the goddamn film. There are plenty of African natives with much more poignant situations than said-stupid white woman, but they are only given cursory characterization, really only enough so that you recognize them when they die. The madness of Vial nicely parallels the madness in the world around her, but parallelism is also the film's biggest problem: the main character's insane course runs parallel to the backdrop of the civil war in a strangely detached manner, providing no insight into any of the themes at hand. Vial's story might have been compelling had it been set somewhere else, but her angst is relatively insignificant in the context of a third-world nation at war with itself. Ironically, 'White Material' is in the end nothing more than pointless, self-interested, white material, only of value to those who have somehow, through the course of their own moral development, remained completely ignorant of the African continent.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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