There is an effect to The Imperialists Are Still Alive, but it’d be hard to say that it’s a cumulative one. In spite of the inherently divisive subject matter and seemingly confrontational title, Imperialists never articulates any thoughts or feelings about either its setting (modern lower Manhattan) or subject matter (cultural identity and racial profiling in the war on terror) that feel solidified, let alone coherent. Scenes play out, characters talk, life goes on in the subclass of artists so well-represented in independent cinema, but no attributes that could be considered defining ever emerge. This isn’t always a problem in film, and can even be liberating, but if writer/director Zeina Durra was not trying to strike any larger nerves, she certainly chose an unusual playground in which to play.
When we are first introduced to professional artist Asya (Elodie Bouchez), she is posing in a full-body nude shot, her face obscured by a scarf wrapped around her head and her arms cradling a semi-automatic machine gun. It is a deliberate play on her heritage (she reminds us repeatedly throughout the film that she is French by nationality but Palestinian and Lebanese by birth), and meant to evoke a deliberate response, but in her fairly insular world, this seems to be a gesture without real courage, or threat of reprisal. That safety is challenged, however, when a friend of hers goes missing (supposedly abducted by U.S. government authorities and placed on a rendition plane), and Israel begins bombing Lebanon, bringing the safety of her brother still living there into question. Around the same time, she begins dating Javier (Jose Maria de Tavira), a Mexican whose separate (but not really opposing) culture also brings her own identity into question.
Though 9/11 is only a distant memory in Imperialists, the imagery of that event and aftermath pervade it. Asya spends a good deal of time watching the fictional news network BNN, and looking over the grisly images of sand-colored buildings that have been gashed open in the wake of concentrated bombing campaigns. She and Javier sit with the local Muslim community (mostly grocers and other low-income workers) and listen to updates on the radio, seemingly in parody of the updated Norman Rockwell images that were produced in the wake of the attacks. In many ways, it feels like an ironic subversion of the way that the war was advertised; the people sold as villains looking on at events outside of their control much as the rest of the country did. Had Imperialists stuck with this theme and developed it, it might have taken Asya into truly foreign and remarkable territory.
As it stands, however, the film is too filled with riffs, moments, and supposed commentaries that feel entirely familiar for its relative insight to generate any heat. Much of the film is spent chronicling Asya and Javier’s courtship, which is charming enough, but fairly indistinct, and largely irrelevant to the larger picture in the film’s world. As appears to be legally required of films set in artistic enclaves, the two of them go to a dance performance (easily subistituted with a reading or a gallery showing) that they both agree later on is horrible, thus “distinguishing” Asya’s art as better and more worthy of consideration, though she often seems too nervous and flighty to be capable of any bold creative statements. This is a world presumably threatened by nebulous outside forces, but it rarely seems principled enough to define in anything but the broadest terms, or even avoid slipping into Woody Allen territory without even realizing it.
This could all be the result of a misreading of the film, as airy and open as it is, and thus kind of irrelevant. Such openness to interpretation could be a virtue of the film, but it could hopefully encourage Durra to be bolder and more confrontational in her work. As it stands, any strong reactions that the subject matter seems to cry out for are stifled by the low murmurs of second guessing.
"The Imperialists Are Still Alive!" opens April 15, 2011 and is not rated. Drama. Written and directed by Zeina Durra. Starring Elodie Bouchez, Jose Maria De Tavira.
