Following his strong foray into fiction with “Hope,” director Boris Lojkine goes even further in weaving his documentary origins onto a fictional structure with “Camille,” a powerful biopic of French photojournalist Camille Lepage, who was killed in the Central African Republic in 2014 at the age of 26. While adopting a standard biopic structure that occasionally stumbles into the formulaic, The use of Lepage’s own photographs ensures the audience sees what she saw, significantly deepening our feel for the woman while making sense of her shift from enthusiastic naïf to tough yet still empathetic professional. “Camille” won the public prize at Locarno, giving a good indication of its potential on the Euro art house circuit and beyond.
While functioning as an homage to Lepage, the film is also a critique of the white-savior-in-Africa cliché: Camille (Nina Meurisse) quickly learns that her photos won’t effect change, but they will humanize a conflict.
While functioning as an homage to Lepage, the film is also a critique of the white-savior-in-Africa cliché: Camille (Nina Meurisse) quickly learns that her photos won’t effect change, but they will humanize a conflict.
- 8/30/2019
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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