One of 2016’s best films was the bizarrely titled yet utterly sublime, ‘My Life as a courgette’ that rightly earned itself an Oscar nomination (and almost as prestigious, a place on our Best Films of 2017 list!). Now writer-director Claude Barras turns his attention to environmental concerns with the release of ‘Savages’. Once again it’s a beautifully animated stop motion film that this time is set in a Borneo rainforest with a traumatizing opening sequence, at least for small children, that sees a baby orang-utan’s mum shot dead by commercial loggers exploiting the area for its palm oil potential.
So baby orangutan is rescued by Mutang an employee of the company and a widowed father to daughter Keria. The three are joined by Selai, Keria’s cousin, whose Penan rainforest tribal village has been wiped out by the loggers. As adoptive parents to the baby orangutan they name Oshi, Keria and Selai get lost in the jungle after an argument and the wonders of the jungle are levelled out by its dangerous poisonous snakes and stalking panthers.
There’s far more to the characters though – Keria’s mother was of Penan heritage and the film sees Keria reconnect with her roots and take action against the loggers greed. The Savages of the title are not really the tribespeople of the jungle.
Director Barras characters are delightful and though aimed at children there’s a moments which aside from the death of Oshi’s mum are unlikely to appear in Disney fare and might raise a few eyebrows with parents but chuckles for kids that underscores a worthwhile message about deforestation and indigenous people
related feature : ‘Memoir of a Snail – Oscar winning stop motion director Adam Elliot takes us BTS of his fab new film
related feature : The story behind the stop motion Jabba the Hut in Star Wars (1977)
We chat to director Claude Barras about the making of Savages….
Here’s the Savages trailer……
