Far West

Two worlds, either ignoring each other's existence or watching each other from a distance. One is the world of Angela and Jair, a couple who survive by fishing for food on the wave-beaten volcanic rocks. The other, opposite world is that of wealthy white people, landing in their village as though it were an exotic planet, who have come to take part in the sport of big-game fishing, as popularised by Hemingway - indeed, Cape Verde is renowned throughout the world as a “paradise” for blue marlins. There are few words in this new film by Pierre-François Sauter (Calabria, Vision du Réel 2016). Consisting only of static shots, we listen to the silence observed by the protagonists in the starkness of a simple and unchanging life. However, while adopting the perspective of Jair and Angela, the Swiss director adds a layer at the end of his film by embarking with the very people who are hunting the blue marlin and boasting of their exploits on Facebook. Through its formal choices, Far West demonstrates, from a political perspective, the unresolvable inequality of exchanges between the North and the South, suggesting that international sport fishing is nothing more than the pursuit, through other means, of a predatory venture which started with colonisation.

Emmanuel Chicon

Far West, 2024
Calabria, 2016
Face au juge, 2009