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Reviews
Les enfants de Troumaron (2012)
Powerful and devastating
Very powerful and devastating story of a 17 year-old girl growing up in a poor "banlieue" on Mauritius (French island, in the Indian Ocean). Based on a novel by Ananda Devi. Dark, poetic, violent (but not voyeuristically so). Full of psychological and socio-psychological insight, reflections on how to make a meaningful life, or at least how to strive for human dignity, in the most desperate of situations, or whether this is even possible. Beautiful.
All the actors are non-professionals; this is only the third full-length film produced in Mauritius. Incredible performance by the protagonist, in the role of Eve.
The film is directed by Harrikrisna Anenden and his son Shavan, with a script by the director's wife who is herself a renowned novelist and poet, author of a dozen or so well-received works. Although the novel is told from four separate points of view, for cinematographic purposes this has been completely reworks and the story is a deftly interwoven, polyphonic tale. It should perhaps also be mentioned that the film reflects the complex ethnic and linguistic mix of Mauritius.
Des fleurs pour Algernon (2006)
a touching and intelligent movie
Oz' scarecrow becomes the tin man. A touching personal drama with excellent acting by the main character. concerns a retarded young man (60 IQ) who works as a school janitor. He is used in an experiment which increases his intelligence gradually, ending at 190 IQ. He learns five languages incl Chinese, gets to a PHD level in chemistry and math, and quickly learns to play complex musical pieces. A relationship starts with his piano teacher, the first time he has had a relationship with a woman. When she tells him he needs to play with feeling, all starts to crumble. He not only has the emotional development of a 9 year-old, but his intelligence has started to wane. He realizes the Dr's are using him as a guinea pig and spectacle to show off their brilliance and stops the treatments, loses the woman who had come to loved him deeply and returns to his former life where he is at home and has his limited but warm relationships with the neighbors and workers. But all he has lost!