This film is not just an adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. Rather, it addresses the larger cultural myth that has grown from the premise of the book: a white man ‘civilising’ indigenous inhabitants of an island, and claiming the territory as his own property. In a time today when the call to decolonise the artworld and its associated institutions has never been more urgent, Deboosere's cinematic intervention resonates with a large body of work seeking to destabilise and replace the ideology of imperialism. The result is a singular, subversive film, satirical and surprisingly charming at the same time, which makes sure to pay just as much attention to animals and the natural world as to the follies of human-constructed ‘anthropocene’ history.
Sara and Adam, and their two-year-old daughter, arrive in Belgium illegally, hoping to finally make their way on to England. Crammed together with other hopefuls in the back of a van, fear begins to prevail. Redouane has been a policeman for 20 years. Every night, he and his team hunt down smugglers throughout the busy motorway network. That night, when he and his partner try to force a van suspected of transporting migrants to stop, everything changes.
Alexia, 25, arrives as a trainee nurse in the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital, and meets Joëlle, the head nurse, who teaches her the job. Alexia is touched by the anger of Mila, a 20-year-old patient, who thinks she has no business being there. Despite Joëlle’s warnings about keeping her distance from patients, Alexia gets close to Mila and puts all her energy into trying to get her out.
