A young man whose wife is going to have a baby ,comes back to his native Corsica for a vacation where he hunts wild boars ;he will be confronted to a terrifying drama.
Although the action takes place in Corsica ,viewing this film will provide you with a complete change of scene here,even for a French.Filmed on location, the cinematography is splendid indeed,taking advantage of the magnificent landscapes of the island.It creates a grandiose atmosphere in which the hero ,-though his aunt notably lives here - is completely lost as the movie progresses.Even the boar hunters he is part of become threatening .
This is not really a thriller: oddly ,the scene of the murder might remind you of that of Clint Eastwood 's "true crime" (1998);and the hero,who witnesses the whole scene , flees ;there the comparison with the American movie ends; the young man ,cannot bring himself to go to the police station .
The code of silence has always been a golden rule in Corsica ,as such writers as Guy De Maupassant or Prosper Mérimée have shown in the nineteenth century ; informing, betraying are unthinkable.Even in the twenty-first century ,his friendly hunt mates tell him so .Even the aunt remembers stories of long ago.
And towards the end, his pals' friendly faces might be enemies ,seeking for revenge.
Disturbing scenes increase tenfold the hero's feeling of guilty : the little chuch devoted to a saint whose eyes were scratched out because she did not want to renege on Jesus in Roman times ; the bleeding chunks of wild boar meat .
I'd tone my praise down a bit for the hero's fantasies filmed in black and white which do not bring anything to a haunting movie which does not need them at all.
Silence is the keynote :the movie begins and ends in silence ;if you are going for a thriller (the poster may fool you) ,you will be disappointed .If you are looking something different ,off the beaten track, you will be rewarded.
