Les Apaches (2013)
Directed by Thierry de Peretti

Film Review

What the French have traditionally termed L'Île de Beauté proves to be anything but beautiful in Thierry de Peretti's first feature-length film, a starkly realist portrait of modern Corsica which instantly dispels the island's picture postcard image.  Inspired by real events that took place some years ago, Les Apaches serves up a heady mix of teen movie and urban thriller through the discomforting prism of social realism and serves to remind us of the fierce class and racial divisions that continue to blight an island which still bears the scars of past decades of terrorist atrocities.

Having been born and raised on Corsica, Thierry de Peretti knows the terrain well and doesn't flinch from showing us the uglier side of the island - the soulless housing estates inhabited by poor, exploited North African immigrants that have become a melting pot of resentment, particularly among the increasingly disenfranchised youngsters.  The gulf between the haves and the have-nots is apparent right from the outset, a luxury villain belonging to a French mainlander looking like a palace in the sky compared with the crowded concrete ghettos it overlooks.  Immediately, we are instilled with a sense of injustice and feel compelled to side with the gang of rebellious adolescents as they force their way into this forbidden paradise and live the life they can only dream of, frolicking drunkenly around a swimming pool and helping themselves to tawdry consumer items.

But then, like a monstrous hangover, the mood of the film begins to darken as it moves into more familiar thriller territory.  This is the point at which Les Apaches starts to lose its focus and credibility as its political subtext becomes more strident, and the characters more formulaic and shallow.  Despite some credible performances from a hand-picked collection of non-professional actors (all natives of the island), the main protagonists remain stubbornly unfathomable.  Whilst we may have a vague appreciation of the resentment that propels the wild adolescents into their crime spree, their individual motives are more difficult to tease out.

Going by his writing and direction, de Peretti seems determined to distance us from his characters, forcing us to regard them as if we were part of the white Corsican community, unwilling to get involved with lowlife whose presence on the island is tolerated only so that they can work as low-paid lackeys.  For the film to have had the impact it deserves, de Peretti should have made more of an effort to take us over the class and racial boundary, forcing us to see things more clearly from the perspective of the reviled underclass.  Like the classic western to which the title alludes, Les Apaches doesn't give us the chance to identify with 'the other'.  Even so, this grimly realist film presents a deeply unsettling portrait of a community divided by race and class that provides a pointed reminder of the divisions that exist more widely in western society, and of the dire repercussions that may ensue.

Film Synopsis

As thousands of tourists swamp the beaches, campsites and nightclubs of Corsica, five unruly adolescents hang out in Porto-Vecchio, amusing themselves with their petty criminal exploits.  It so happens that the father of one of them, Aziz, takes care of a luxury villa, so whilst the villa's owner is away, Aziz and his friends let themselves in and enjoy an all-night party.  Before they leave, the friends steal a number of worthless objects and some expensive firearms.  When the villa's owner returns from Paris, she reports the burglary to a local businessman she is acquainted with.  As the latter begins his investigation, Aziz's friends fear he may betray them and decide that he must die...