Title: Partisan
Director: Ariel Kleiman
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Niger Barber, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara.
A Partisan usually evokes the heroes of World War II opposing the Nazis, although the exact definition of the word would be “A fervent, sometimes militant supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea.” This is exactly what Australian director, Ariel Kleiman, portrays in his debut feature film.
The director who gained great attention and praise in Cannes, with his short film ‘Deeper Than Yesterday’, chooses to tell the story of a community – accessible through padlocked hidden entrances and concrete passageways – founded by a Messianic figure, Grigori, who believes he can protect his people from the horrors of the outside world. But it seems a paradoxical mission, since the means to finance the isolated commune involves bloodshed. While the women seem content to share Grigori’s affections between them, the children are being raised to be killers: the Fagin-archetype character finances his whole operation by the contract murders that his indoctrinated kids fulfill.
Kleiman and screenwriter Sarah Cyngler co-wrote the script after reading about child assassins in Colombia, the so called “sicarios.” Another source of inspiration was the Pied Piper, which seems perfectly fit for the way Vincent Cassel lures his disciples to the dark side. Jeremy Chabriel interprets, Grigori’s surrogate son and most devoted pupil, Alexander, who will face with gelid sagacity the bombshell that falls upon his childlike idealisations of his mentor.
The movie is gradual and gentle, in the way the audience is allowed to metabolise the Partisan’s actions and react cathartically through the coming-of-age of Alexander. ‘Partisan’ leaves audiences thinking also about how terrorists are plagiarising children into killing, training them as Taliban fighters from the age of five.
Technical: B-
Acting: A-
Story: B+
Overall: B+
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
