Paradise is lost early in Savages, when the stark effect of deforestation cuts through the endearing stop-motion animation to deliver a brutal ‘Bambi moment.' Don't let that put you off – it's the beginning of the film's central relationship between orphaned baby ape Oshi and young girl Kéria, but also a launch pad for the many powerful points director Claude Barras wants to make about the world.
Savage's tale begins when Kéria (De Coster) and her father Mutang (Benoît Poelvoorde) rescue Oshi in the Borneo jungle. Her father works for the palm oil plantation growing to replace the rainforest, but Kéria knows little of her mother, apart from the fact that she died when she was young and was a member of the Penan people of the forest. But when the deforestation also disrupts her mother's side of the family, Kéria sets out on a journey with Oshi and her cousin Selaï that will tell her more about the forest and the threat it faces than she ever thought possible.
Barras' latest feature is refreshing proof that animated films don't have to be jam-packed with jokes, but just content to let their characters breathe. That's not to say there isn't humour in Savage's 86-minute runtime. It has a light, easy-going comedy that slots lovingly into its core themes of coming of age, the clash and fusion of technology and nature, as well as the rights of indigenous communities.
Yes, Savages has points to make, and it doesn't skimp on making them clear with that most effective of tools, beautiful art. The design and animation of Savages is constantly endearing: a world carved from bright and bursting colour. Early on, a gorgeous diorama picks out Kéria and Mutang's rustic village, divided from a gleaming city by a flowing river. But the majority of the film is spent in the wilds of the forest, which pops with clever and ambitious animation.
Under the jungle canopies, a sizable cast of characters makes their presence felt, including sterling support from several animals, including the adorable orangutan Oshi. There are some lovely touches between those characters. The indigenous population are not subtitled, but Kéria's grandfather is prepared to talk to his granddaughter in her language at times. Then there's the nuanced, ambiguous relationship between Kéria's father and Jeanne, the academic living with the Penan people, which links back to the fate of the girls' mother. Long told that her mother died in a panther attack, the scenes where Kéria encounters an elegant panther after her grandfather links her to the creature's spirit are standouts.
It doesn't seem quite right to mark Savages out as a coming-of-age story, although Kéria's discovery of her heritage and the broader issues affecting it are seen through that prism. The thematic developments from Barras's first full-length animated feature, My Life as a Courgette (2016), are clear in Savages' emotional depth, but this is a satisfyingly broader canvas, with an eye on nature as much as the nature of humanity.
It's no surprise that the title's double-meaning soon becomes clear: No one is more savage than the antagonistic logging company, who resort to some jaw-droppingly underhanded tactics, and yet “savage” is the derisory term they most often resort to for the people of the forest. But Barras layers over that to make a world that's recognisably moral, if conflicted, and on the face of it contradictory. A hunt, stopped by a beeping phone, might also be stopped by omens of the forest. IDs are the only bureaucratic tools the Penan people could use to protest the foresters' actions, but they can only get them by accepting the foresters' terrible terms.
The dawning fusion of ideas gives us viewers a good chance of coming close to feeling like Kéria as her eyes are opened throughout the film. The young girl becomes physically and spiritually closer to the family on her mother's side, even as she retains some powerful connections to the world she grew up in.
While Barras commits to answering most of the questions he asks, possibly a little too neatly, it's that fusion of ideas that enhances Savages beyond coming-of-age story to something enjoyably thought-provoking.
Savages is released in cinemas on 1 August
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