Sometimes
you have to wonder why contending parties would bother asserting their competing
claims to hopelessly economically depressed territories, but Corsica is different.
The picturesque Mediterranean isle has obvious potential for tourism and real
estate development, if it were not for the unchecked organized crime and
escalating separatist violence. Frankly, it is tricky to distinguish the
separatist radicals from the gangsters in Thierry de Peretti’s A Violent Life (trailer here), which releases
today on DVD.
Based
on the in media res opening, we know things will get dicey for Stéphane.
Initially, the university student was not inclined to be political. In fact, he
was openly hostile to extremism on either side. However, when he rather
inexplicable agrees to ferry a shipment of guns for his independence-supporting
common crook pals (the motivation here is the film’s biggest pothole), he gets pinched
and sent to prison, where he is radicalized by François, a grizzled separatist
ring-leader.
When
both men are released, Stéphane becomes François’s liaison to the domestic
Corsican underground. Essentially, Stéphane’s old chums agree to lend their
muscle to François’s network, in exchange for support and cover for their
illicit business. However, this does not sit well with the international crime
syndicates that the French government in Paris allows to operate freely on Corsica,
as a way to keep the local populace cowed and marginalized, or so François
explicitly charges. Regardless of conspiratorial arrangements, there are plenty
of heavily armed people on the island, who are not happy with Stéphane and his comrades.
Violent Life tells an epic
story that compares very directly to many Sicilian-based mafia dramas, but de
Peretti’s approach, favoring medium-wide shots (or even wider), has a distancing
effect. Stylistically, it shares a kinship with Garrone’s Gomorrah and to a lesser extent, The Connection. Despite all the resentments and rivalries erupting
on-screen, de Peretti maintains a cold cerebral tone that gives the film the texture
and vibe of a docudrama.
The
ensemble mostly features local Corsican first-timers, but they certainly look
the part. In fact, Jean Michelangeli’s quiet intensity as Stéphane rather
effectively anchors the film. However, it is professional ringer Marie-Pierre
Nouveau who makes the strongest emotional connection as Jeanne, Stéphane’s
young-looking mother, who is desperate to protect her wayward son.
