What It’s About:
At a French Foreign Legion outpost in Djibouti, East Africa, the stern, tightly-wound Sergeant Galoup (Levain) leads a series of arduous military drills in the blazing sun to ensure the young recruits under his charge maintain tight discipline and peak physical condition. When Gilles Santain (Colin) tries to aid another soldier under harsh punishment from Galoup, the Sergeant is deeply offended and singles out Gilles for ongoing persecution.
Why We Love It:
Writer/director Denis and her partner Jean-Pol Fargau based their story on Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd”, also about a career military man who forms an unhealthy obsession towards a young man under his command. Denis, who grew up in colonial Africa, leans on imagery over words, evoking the remoteness and raw heat of Djibouti, while romancing the hard, glistening bodies of soldiers undergoing their grueling military training, a repeated ritual that almost feels like church. Little wonder that cinematographer Agnes Godard won a Cesar (French Oscar) for this. The ferret-like Levain makes a loathsome villain, a hard little man with a past who we sense can only survive in the Legion. Played with restraint by Colin, his target Gilles is an innocent who’s punished for showing a spark of decency. Give a salute to “Beau Travail”, a defining early work in the illustrious film career of Claire Denis.