Laetitia Dosch. “Through books and movies, I grew up, learned about life”

No one has forgotten My life as a zucchiniBy Claude Barras, a stop-gap story about children gathered in an orphanage that accurately and sensitively deals with the violence and trauma they are victims of. Awarded the Cristal Award for Feature Film and the Audience Award at the Annecy Festival, then the César for Best Animated Film and nominated for an Oscar, the film left its mark on its discipline. Today, the Swiss director returns Savagesa new feature film, which this time aims to (re)awaken awareness about deforestation. On the edge of the rainforest in Borneo, Keria lives the life of a typical teenager, glued to her phone, worrying about what her friends think and rolling her eyes as soon as her father opens his mouth. Her life begins to turn upside down when she takes in a baby monkey whose mother was killed by loggers. And when his cousin Selai, a member of the Penan tribe, comes to live with him for a while; it is enough to question his roots, the world around him, the battles that previous generations and his own can lead in such social networks. with poisonous arrows.

Always made on the same principle, Savages its plastic beauty serves the forest, endangered biodiversity, and a people who do not need education or “civilization” to survive. Letitia Dosch lends her voice to a well-spoken anthropologist who shares her life with that of the natives. The long-time actress also questions our relationship with other species through her work (her show Hasteon horseback, in his first film as a director in 2018, The trial of the dogissued at the beginning of the academic year). Meeting.

Madame Figaro: How was this film born?
Claude Baras: It comes from an article I read in 2016 about the planned extinction of wild orangutans. There were a million in the 1900s, 100,000 in 2000, and about 15,000 left in 2016. We were talking about the extinction period of 2030, and it worried me, saddened me. As a child, I dreamed of being a biologist. Jeanne, the character played by Letitia, is a bit like my alter ego, but she is also a character inspired by Diane Fossey or Bruno Manser (an environmentalist and activist who disappeared under unknown circumstances in Malaysia in 2000). Editor’s noteA Swiss who left because he wanted to live in a world without money, who took on the protection of forest nomads. When he saw the deforestation front, he spoke on their behalf and helped them understand what was happening, then came together to resist.

And you, Letitia, when you read the script and discovered the character, how did you feel?
Laetitia Dosch. I found it wonderful how he approached these topics for children. As a culture, we always think about how to talk about global warming, endangered species; there’s a lot of love in the movie, which I think is essential. When I saw it, I loved the details, the way the animals were rendered, the beauty of nature. It not only deals with important tasks, but also carries something of the order of care, knowledge of the other. And my character seemed very funny to me.

What function does this character have in the story? She is a Western, white woman who has decided to share the Penan way of life. Does it connect two worlds?
LD: It’s like a dream for me. imagine living with other people, blending into other communities and being able to be yourself… The exchange must be so rich, so mind-blowing. These people have separated themselves from Western society to protect nature, to protect capital that has nothing to do with our material values. And it may seem a little primitive, but when I see that, despite a lot of effort, I can’t part with my mobile phone, these are people who have a certain strength to leave it all.

Savages aims to awaken ecological consciousness among young generations. Are there jobs that have shaped yours?
LD: It is through books and movies that I grew up, learned about life and gained distance. We discover other lives, things about being human, we worry, we open our perspectives. It is very expensive, that’s why I go to the movies and I love this job. Of course, there are real ecological political messages in Claude’s film. But it always comes down to humanity, through the love we will feel for certain characters.

CB: Yes, we teleport into the experiences of the characters we follow. from me Heidi had a big impact on me when I was a kid. Because my grandparents were like his grandfather, mountain farmers, not too far from the forest nomads we see; Savageswith a very direct and very autonomous relationship with nature. They had several cows, chickens, goats, a garden, fruit trees and made some wine. They lived almost self-sufficiently and in our villages, so did almost half of the population until the 1950s. For example, “peasant” was an insult when I was a kid, just like Sela is harassed because she’s indigenous. Savages also represents a way of holding up a mirror to what has happened to us.

If: Savages aimed at children, it does not shy away from cruelty or death. You have asked yourself the question of the representation of violence. Why is it necessary?
CB: This is something I’ve come to terms with My life as a zucchini. Violence was suggested in this film, and it was this that posed the most problems and questions for children. They preferred to tell exactly what was happening, especially about the little girl whom her father loved very much. So we might as well assume, or try to tell it another way, that’s what I tried to do Savages. Also, the violence is necessary because I wanted to write in a very realistic and documentary tone in the film, based on the loyalty to the forest and the people who live there. I didn’t want to say that everything is good, or even “moderately” good. Only 15% of the forest remains compared to the area 40 years ago. And about 200 nomads, when there were thousands of them.