If Henry Selick decided to make a whimsical stop-motion remake of Nic Roeg’s Walkabout, the result wouldn’t be too far from Savages. This is Claude Barras’ long-awaited follow-up to his masterful claymation classic My Life as a Courgette (2016). It’s been a good nine years since Barras’ Oscar-nominated debut, but as anyone who has dealt with stop-motion and/or indie filmmaking will know, these things take time.
Savages finds Barras in tropical terrain, telling the story of two cousins who end up in the rainforests of Borneo. It may be a geographic world away from Courgette’s Swiss orphanage, but Savages is absolutely a blood relative to that film. Not only do they share the same charming style, but both are about finding friendship in childhood and dealing with serious subject matter through a child’s perspective.
Savages takes on the undeniably prescient issue of deforestation caused by the palm oil industry, and the devastating effect it has on wildlife. The story is told through the perspective of Keira, whose father works on a palm oil plantation. The pair rescue a newly orphaned young orangutan, whom she nicknames Oishi. However, Oishi isn’t the only victim of industrial farming: Keira’s cousin Selai, one of the indigenous Penan people, comes to live with them after being displaced. Through Selai, the initially jaded Keira grows to appreciate the forest and understand what destruction really means.
The film is hardly revolutionary in a narrative sense. Stories of a narrow-minded “civilised” protagonist discovering the magic of nature and becoming an ally to the endangered indigenous folk have been told again and again. While the film is fairly predictable, it still conveys its worthy message in an endearing way, and Barras’ gorgeous animation style is a delight to look at.
Screened in Malta as part of the CineAmbjent festival, this is a highly worthy entry and a perfect way to introduce children to the realities of the palm oil industry. Most commendably, Barras understands that children can handle emotionally tough moments, and the opening scene with Oishi and his mother is sure to pack a punch no matter your age.
Barras’ sophomore effort may be a more minor work after the mini-masterpiece My Life as a Courgette, but it proves he’s no one-hit wonder either. His voice is unmistakable, and his heart is clearly in the right place. Let’s hope his third film doesn’t take another near-decade to arrive.
