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‘Red Island’ Review: Robin Campillo’s Disjointed but Alluring Memory Piece
'BPM' director Robin Campillo returns with 'Red Island,' an evocation of a Madagascar childhood that abruptly shifts from the personal to political.
Following the bracing sexual and political candor of “BPM,” writer-director Robin Campillo ‘s much-laureled film about HIV/AIDS activism in 1990s Paris, “ Red Island ” initially appears to be a retreat into cozier nostalgia — a child’s-eye view of life on a French military base in 1970s Madagascar, flooded with sunlight, awash with the thrill of youthful exploration. Thomas’ suave army officer father Robert (Quim Gutiérrez, radiating Belmondo-esque charm) and his mother Colette (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) aren’t overly concerned with their son’s exploits, parenting him and his siblings in vaguely permissive fashion. An air of blasé sexual liberty permeates the base, where soldiers frequent a brothel staffed by local Malagasy women — one of whom, Miangaly (Amely Rakotoarimalala), becomes an object of obsessive desire for new, married recruit Bernard (Hugues Delamarlière).
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