PACIFICTION
Directed by Albert Serra
Certificate: 12a
☆☆☆☆

THE crime of using your colonies as a place to explode nuclear missiles is no hidden secret, yet the horrendous scandals of the 20th century feel almost forgotten, just another footnote in the cruel annals of human fratricide.

This three-hour-long quasi-thriller is set on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, which for 20 years had weapons of mass murder tested on the doorstep of paradise.

Rightfully, the islanders are fearful of it happening once more – and when rumours surface of a French submarine spotted nearby, and the appearance in the bars of naval officers and sailors, questions are raised.

High Commissioner De Roller (Benoit Magimel) is a chameleon – the perfect politician. He can create and recreate himself from any number of composite parts. It means he is as much at home sipping cocktails with admirals before roughing it in a Tahitian night club.

Well-liked, running a tropical island should be a doddle of a job.

No – a dreamy sense of hidden stories, rumours and intrigue hangs heavily in the sweaty tropical atmosphere. De Roller is a yes man, but obviously he does not mean yes to everything, making his behaviour hard to read and his goals impossible to guess. He turns sleuth as he tries to find out what his government is doing and protect the islanders he serves.

Wonderfully shot – from nice vistas to grim bars and clubs – the idea of Eden corrupted sings out. The sound adds. As well as the squeaks, chirps, growls, grunts, coos of island animals, the to and fro of French Polynesian mingling with the island’s languages is atmospheric.

France tested their weapons of mass murder in Algeria and then in French Polynesia. The last was in 1996.

The 193 nuclear tests included 41 bombs exploded in the skies above the islands, spreading poisons over a huge area. As sure as night follows day, not only were the French attempting to build a bomb that could wipe out the human race, they caused thousands of cases of cancer in those innocent people who happened to be living somewhere colonial pirates took a fancy to.

We are not innocent: Britain conducted 45 tests of their own, some in Western Australia, others on Easter Island in the Pacific.

Serra considers a global political issue from a personal point of view, and this makes the story interesting and original.