The Phoenician plot of Wes Anderson, the review of the film

In the initial scene of the new film by Wes Anderson, The Phoenician plota man is exploded by a bomb. A trail of red blood alive splashes on the wall above the lower half of its body, still tied to the aircraft seat. In the previous films of Anderson there was a few touch of violence, and the director never made too much scruples in deciding the destinies of his characters. But this sequence has the flavor of an escalation. The Phoenician plotpreviewed at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, tries to overcome the aesthetic by the Fairy Tales who made Anderson famous, to deal with more dark and articulated issues.

The closest relative of the film, in the peculiar universe of the director, is probably Grand Budapest Hotel: an adventure full of references to the pre-according to world war period, set in a mountainous and imaginary Europe at the dawn of fascism. The Phoenician plot He moves the action of twenty years, in the strange and uncertain days of the post -war period, between ruins to be reconstructed, new looming threats and dark maneuvers to obtain power and money.

Benicio del Toro He plays Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, an oligarch with ambiguous origins, involved in turbid affairs and target of continuous assassination attempts. They shoot him, try to poison him, his plane is bombed. It is hated from half the world, and not for no reason. It builds, but unscrupulous: it takes advantage of the local labor (in the film the term “slaves” is often used), altered geopolitical balances, the governments and potentated governments. Even his own family hates him.

In a sense, Zsa-Zsa is an updated version of the irresistible Mascalzone Royal Tenenbauminterpreted by Gene Hackman. Perhaps the most successful character of Anderson, capable of being at the same time hateful and moving. Del Toro packs a variation of that dualism, but on a wider scale. Zsa-Zsa has done horrible things and will do others, yet an inexplicable charm emanates: his security makes us believe, for a moment, that he really understood the secret functioning of the world.

To complicate his figure arrives his daughter Liesl (My threapleton)a novice convened by the convent to be designated heir of paternal fortune. The relationships between the two are tense, but a link is established between diffidence and mutual attraction. Liesl also fears his nine half -brother – natural or adoptive children – raised in the hope that they develop useful skills to the cause of the father. Disappointed by these attempts, Zsa-Zsa focuses everything on his daughter, who instructs his ruthless modus operandi while trying to save the family empire from the assault of an American intelligence agency.

The film proceeds in a fragmentary and disordered way, following the two protagonists in an imaginary region that mixes elements of southern Europe and North Africa. As already in Asteroid CityAnderson uses well desert, austere and strangely reassuring landscapes. But as the initial scene suggests, the quiet is often interrupted by sudden bursts of violence: A mortal azaric reminder that Zsa-Zsa has undertaken in an attempt to dominate the world.

Despite all these conditions, the narration yes it is soon stagnant. While father and daughter meet a florilege of members (played by high -sounding names such as Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston And Benedict Cumberbatch), the film struggles to find a rhythm. As often happens, Anderson builds a universe meticulously refined but distant, cold. The actor tests of Del Toro and Threapleton are solid, but attention are not enough to maintain attention. The paper surreality of the film ends up being his most obvious limit: without strong emotional bonds with reality, The Phoenician plot It slips into a frustrating abstraction.

Yet, in the end, Anderson manages to redeem his film at least in part, with a tender moral reflection and – in some ways – provocative. The Phoenician plotdespite his ambiguous tones and his often confused language, speaks of oligarchs and accumulation of wealth, and launches a Appeal to compassion and mental health aimed at plutocrats who are making fortune while the world is pieces. Anderson’s old fascination for aristocracy It retains him from condemning it openly, but at least imagines an alternative: a simple life, made up of modest and human satisfactions.

It is on this note that the film ends: a moment of quiet and harmony that contrasts with the bloodthirsty start. A Praise of modest and dignified lifewho – who knows – the billionaires could even appreciate, if they only stopped tearing the threads of democracy and multiply their descent. The message is touching, even if a little obvious. But, as always, they will probably not watch the film. And it will be up to us to learn the lesson once again.