5/21/15

Sugarcane Shadows

"Lonbraz Kann" (English captions) is enjoying its North American Premier at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival. Submitted by Mauritius, we are treated to director David Constantin's first feature film.

Mauritius is suffering from a deluge of free-spending tourists and is in danger of losing its cultural identity. Director Constantin uses "local" people to tell his story, not "imported" talent.

We see Raj Bumma Put, David Bhowaneedin, Nalini Aubeeluck, Jean-Claude Cathey and Jérôme Boulle portray subsistence inhabitants whose main source of income is disappearing with the closure of the local sugar mill. Things become more complicated for our handsome hero when a new construction foreman moves into the area with his lovely wife.

A local man provides comic relief as he steals flowers from grave-sites to sell later at a local shop. He also has a delightful encounter with a bus-load of tourists.

We saw the rapacious attitude of corporate officials moving into the area who represent the main developer, so we even had villains to loathe.