Denis Villeneuve
Sicario

Denis Villeneuve, a Canadian, became a well-known name in the film world starting in 2010, when "Incendies" made waves in festivals around the globe, even receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Although he had a previous career (including the noteworthy "Polytechnique"), it was from that film onwards that Villeneuve's name began to circulate. Endowed with a great talent for mise-en-scène and a certain lyrical taste in the quest for imagery, he was soon absorbed by the Hollywood market, and "Prisoners" (2013) was the first product of the "new" Villeneuve. To fully understand the latest feature by the Canadian, the well-received "Sicario" by critics, but less so by the audience, one must start again from that thriller. Between "Prisoners" and "Sicario," the two Hollywood works of the Canadian, there is a "fil rouge" that is the connecting element in Villeneuve's directorial and thematic journey.

Kate (an excellent Emily Blunt), an FBI agent, finds herself thrown into the border between the United States and Mexico. The task force's objective is to create chaos to try to bring to light one of the various Mexican drug lords. The figures of Matt (Josh Brolin) and especially Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) will make her reflect on the moral integrity of those who at least apparently are supposed to represent legality.

"Sicario" starts from a well-written screenplay that, however, has the problem of progressing episodically. Villeneuve is almost obliged to alternate between grand action sequences and slower moments, which he still manages to handle, maintaining a consistent (but never too high) level of tension. In this, he appeals to his qualities as a "composer of images", alternating sequences purely action-oriented close to the "muscular" cinema of Mann and Bigelow to others more introspective and precisely built on the ability of images to convey sensations and emotions to the viewer (notably the aerial shots of the border). In this, he is also aided by yet another colossal effort from Roger Deakins in cinematography.

Villeneuve does not only want to shoot an action film but wants to do it with his gaze, wants his hand, that of the author, to emerge. Hence the parallel with "Prisoners": the similarities are not only in the slow camera movements, in the extended rhythm, but also in his personal vision of the world. It is not only chance and destiny that overthrow the human being; his is a new political invective against America. Hugh Jackman in "Prisoners" needed to seek justice himself due to his distrust in justice. His enemy was internal to America and his was the fear of every father. In "Sicario," the theme of "private justice" returns, which Alejandro needs to find to restore meaning to his life. Yet Villeneuve blurs the usual good/evil dichotomy by presenting us with characters that mirror a decaying society. The second part of the film is a continuous accusation against the ways and methods chosen by those "who have been elected, not appointed." We are useless pawns in a pantagruelian chessboard built by others.

America in a seal.

There is a strange convergence of methods between the drug traffickers and the CIA. Someone learned from someone else. Villeneuve chooses to take a political stance, and his choice is one of the strong points of the film. If it is true that Blunt's character lacks the strength to justify her moral hesitations, if it is true that the themes have been seen and revisited (starting with Soderbergh's "Traffic"), it is equally true that rarely in recent years have we seen such a coexistence of auteur vision and social critique in a film that is still within the "mainstream circuit." Far from being a perfect work, "Sicario" is the new confirmation of a director who has his own personal view and who has full awareness of the cinematic medium. Not a small feat at a time when cinema is experiencing a total rejection of authorship.

"You're not a wolf and this is the land of wolves now."