To understand these theories in practice, I chose to evaluate them in reference to a film with a strong presence of landscape, Beau Travail (1999), directed by Claire Denis. Denis is a French filmmaker who grew up in colonial French Africa. She worked closely with Wim Wenders, who is known for his affinity for the American landscape (Shambu 2020). This film follows the memory of French legionnaire officer Galoup, back to his service in the Gulf of Djibouti. The audience follows his recollection of the conflict between him and a young recruit, Sentain, brought on by jealousy and possible suppressed homosexuality that ultimtaly leads to his downfall and expulsion from the service due to his disciplinary actions taken against Setain resulting in serious physical harm (Shambu 2020). Much of Denis’s inspiration as a filmmaker stemmed from “wondering if there was such a thing as a landscape that she might call her own. Realizing it was neither America nor France but Africa” (Shambu 2020).
Galoup and Setain engage in a sort of duel
Cinematic Style - Landscape as Place and Spectacle
Landscape plays an important role in Beau Travail through the artistic cinematic style. “Denis and her longtime cinematographer, Agnès Godard, are masters of vivid and tactile image-making, capturing equally the elemental force of the sun-saturated East African landscape” (Shambu 2020). “Landscape as place is usually depicted in extreme long shots, long shots and deep focus shots” (Lukinbeal 2005, 8). Godard’s slow cinematic style includes many establishing and master shots of the bold, desolate, beautiful and intimidating landscape of the Djiboutian desert. Dialogue is kept to a minimum in the film and the visual blending of the actors as an extension of the landscape is what primarily captivates the audience. Landscape as place and spectacle is clearly established in this film through the sheer amount of long, diologless deep focus shots, but what does the landscape as a character contribute to the narrative? What message does it convey?
Volcanoes as Sentinels - Landscape as Metaphor
Critically considering the role of the landscape in Beau Travail brings to mind the following quotation by R. Singh and S. Singh’s (2019): “Though the cinema has its own events and narratives; but, without a specific landscape at the backdrop, all cinematic events go in vain as any cinematic narrative is meaningless without proper landscape representation in the backdrop” (98). This sentiment highlights how the narrative of this film couldn’t exist without this specific landscape. Cues from the script help contextualize this idea. About forty minutes into the film, Galoup is tasked with leading a group to set up camp at Ghoubbet-el-Kharab, a Djibouti cove that separates the African and Arabian continental plates known for its deep waters and violent currents (Shambu 2020). Recalling the location he says, “It was an arid plateau overlooking the sea, lined with the remains of workers’ barracks. We set up camp in this desolate terrain. The three volcanoes. Like sentinels” (Denis 1999, 47:47). This statement turns landscape into metaphor for Galoup. Equating the volcanoes to sentinels – watch guards – implies that the landscape serves to stand watch over Galoup and his actions, as if it is the land that turned him in and stood witness to the crimes he committed.
Much of the film depicts legionnaires conducting visually captivating training exercises in the Djibouti desert.
“Landscape is also used in movies to support moods or build up or strengthen the disposition of recipients with regard to spatial evaluation (Escher 2006, 310) The landscape reflects Galoup’s mood, as the “rugged topography of desert” can be used “to depict loneliness”, which proves to be a strong motif for this character throughout the film (Singh and Singh 2019, 93). “Specific themes, conflicts, processes, conclusions and feelings can be assigned to corresponding types of landscapes in movies” (Escher 2006, 310). Such conflicts and power processes are evident in Galoup feelings of being ostracized and judged by the landscape. He seems to blame the terrain for bringing him to his desperate actions. He says, “I looked at the desolate Ghoubbet, thinking my black thoughts. People tell me many stories about this wasteland – the devil…evil spirits, the evil eye” (Denis 1999, 1:04:47). It is a common cinematic device to use “the desert to represent a location of evil and/or the supernatural” (Lukinbeal 20015, 13). The truth of whether or not it is the landscape that caused him to act out is not what matters, but rather the understanding that the narrative and the setting are intertwined in such a way that the story would not exist without the role played by the landscape.
