Movie Review: Zombi Child

Zombi Child *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Bertrand Bonello. 

Written by: Bertrand Bonello.

Starring: Louise Labeque (Fanny), Wislanda Louimat (Mélissa), Katiana Milfort (Katy), Mackenson Bijou (Clairvius Narcisse), Adilé David (Salomé), Ninon François (Romy), Mathilde Riu (Adèle), Ginite Popote (Francina), Néhémy Pierre-Dahomey (Baron Samedi), Sayyid El Alami (Pablo), Saadia Bentaïeb (La surintendante du pensionnat), Patrick Boucheron (Le professeur d'Histoire). 

 

Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child is an odd film – not least of which because it’s a film that could easily be accused of cultural appropriation, while also being about cultural appropriation. It flashes back and forth in time between 1960s Haiti – in which a plantation worker dies, and is brought to life to continue to work in a z kid zombie-state of slavery, and modern day France, where that man’s granddaughter starts attending an exclusive all girls boarding school – pretty much the only black face in a sea of white girls, one in particular who is fascinated by the new girl – and her cultural heritage – and then goes too far with that fascination.

 

Bonello’s film is a strange mixture of genres – horror yes, but only slightly. It’s a zombie film in the way that Jacques Tourneur’s I Walked with a Zombie was a film – meaning it takes it back to its pre-Romero roots. The opening, set in Haiti during the 1960s, is masterful wordless storytelling – telling us everything we need to know about this man in Haiti, and what has been done to him. From there, it seems like an odd choice to adopt the perspective of not his granddaughter at the school – Melissa (Wislanda Louimat), but rather her white classmate Fanny (Louise Labeque) who is fascinated by her new classmate – perhaps because so different – so weird in the words of her other friends. We hear a lot of Fanny’s voiceover in letters she writes about her beloved boyfriend (who we see in hilarious sequences, clearly through her rose colored glasses, as a shirtless Adonis in a field).

 

Fanny and her friends suffer from “First World Problems” – and cannot really relate when Melissa tells them her story – about her parents being killed in the massive earthquake that hit Haiti, and how she lives with her Aunt now in Paris – who isn’t rich like the rest of her classmates (you have to be the daughter of someone who has won the Legion of Honor from France, which Melissa’s mother did for standing up to the corrupt regime in Haiti – something that doesn’t pay well). When Melissa opens up about the voodoo roots in Haiti – and Fanny is dealt a harsh blow, the type that every teenager thinks is the end of the world, but really isn’t – she gets a very bad idea, which will have very bad consequences.

 

Bonello’s film is best in the early going, and as it allows the different genre elements and cultural clashes to simmer through the opening two acts of the film. The climax is less successful, as you have to believe that Melissa’s Aunt would do something she probably wouldn’t do – even for money – and is more or less explained rather than fully shown. In short, Bonello does a masterful job of setting everything into motion, but doesn’t quite know how to stick the landing. He says what he wants to say, and considers that more important than finding the right way to wrap it all up. I don’t think it all really comes together.

 

And yet, the filmmaking by Bonello is so strong, that it pulls you in, and the film is haunting enough that it will stick with you long after its over – quite an accomplishment, especially when, like me, you saw it in the middle of a film festival, where many films – even good ones, leave your mind when they over and the next one starts. It isn’t as good – as daring, as incendiary – as Bonello’s last film – the masterful and controversial Nocturama – but it once again shows Bonello’s firm grasp on filmmaking, and crafting moments, images that will haunt you when it’s over.