France’s largest island with its 300 000 inhabitants, Corsica, serves as the conflicted setting in Frédéric Farrucci’s second full-length feature. What separates The Mohican from the rest of the pack is its approach: writer-director Farrucci examines the social problems arising in a mountainous holiday resort through the genre of a sweaty, summery thriller, almost resembling a modern western. Traditional livelihoods against late-stage capitalism. Local peasants against the local mafia. Corsicans against tourists and Parisians. But taking the centre stage is Alexis Manent’s burly Joseph, the island’s ”last goatherd”, fighting for ownership of his land. He refuses to sell his property to speculators.
Joseph is aided by his young niece Vannina (Mara Taquin), recently returned from mainland Europe, adept with the modern utility of social media. Touted by the locals as ”the Last Mohican”, Joseph’s story expands to mythic proportions, as cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie taps into Corsica’s ancient landscapes to illustrate this exciting cat-and-mouse gambit.
Timo Malmi