Denis' storytelling draw you in, but, unless I missed somethind. the film seems to cover well-worn ground regarding European colonialism.

A piece all about detail and ambience, which is portrays excellently. Nice lead performances. Everything else is pretty naff to be honest.

Very elusive. The film is quite gripping as the situation escalates, and Marie's combination of stubbornness and cluelessness make her tough to sympathize with, but fascinating. Denis never tries to tell us how to feel about her, but often frames her in a way that enhances her sense of otherness and isolation. Huppert's performance is restrained, which makes the eventual cracks in her persona more effective. But in the end I was left not quite knowing how to react. Interesting music.

I think it's time to just call it quits on Claire Denis. At least until I get around to Beau Travail.

I'm with JooJoo, calling a bust on Claire Denis (although Beau Travail is not bad.)

More than a political film, Denis' feature is a slow examination of a woman that just can't just leave her possessions, even being in a land where the law is commanded by violence. Keeping the camera so close of the characthers, especially aiming the back of their necks, Denis encapsulates a great amount of tension, in a narrative that announces at every shot that there is a great wave of blood coming.

A perfect example of how it's possible to fully appreciate the aims and ideas of a film, and yet still not enjoy the film itself. Even though I know I wasn't exactly meant to emphasize with them, I just couldn't stand the characters -- particularly Huppert's arrogant lead. It was a great film. Or awful. Both, I guess.

Denis in top form. Something of a return to her elliptical, impressionistic style after the relatively more straight-forward 35 Rhums, as well as a partial revisitation of the subject matter of her debut Chocolat, albeit in a far darker vein. Perhaps not as sensual or immersive, nor quite as abstract, as her masterpieces L'Intus and Beau travail, the film nonetheless clearly carries the distinctive fingerprint of one of the finest directors working today.

Although a very well made film,I found White Material Slightly laborious until the very abrupt ending. This relates events but doesn’t really make a judgement.

"It's a testament to the artistic expectations raised by Denis that, after the astonishing fugue of The Intruder and the vibrant intimacy of 35 Shots of Rum, even as strong and stirring a picture as White Material seems comparatively conventional." - Fernando F. Croce

Denis' elliptical narrative avoids politics. This siege tale ignores the details of colonial life to gloss its chaotic collapse. Her equanimity is tiresome.

I really liked it. However, and this might be completely wrong, the two Denis films I've watched (Trouble Every Day and this) both felt a little 'cold'. I never got fully invested in it, but it is really well-shot, has a great performance from Huppert and is in many ways great.

A clear-eyed look at the self-delusion of the expatriate who thinks that they are naturalised. Very beautifully filmed, it captures Africa so well.

I always felt that Denis's strongest films were here African ones, Chocolat and Beau Travail. Her passion for Africa's issues shone through and those pictures scintillated with power. Her latest distills that passion to an even greater energy. The film is brimming with unrest and tension, and shows an intimate portrait of a fertile Africa self-destructing because of the white man's greed. But it's not that black-and-white, it's a very complex film and so beautiful to look at too. Huppertastic!

I appreciate its artistic merits. This is clearly well-made. But much like Denis' previous film 35 rhums, it feels rather distant. I couldn't relate much to the characters. The lack of political context also made the whole thing a tad pointless.

Not actually *bad*, but what the dickens is the point? Yet another "it's really fucked up in Africa" movie, in which the heroine and her family suffers and suffers and suffers and suffers... and ultimately it becomes quite dull. The best part is how pleasantly weird it is to see an aging Christopher "Highlander" Lambert in something like this

The white woman's burden examined with Denis' typical subdued storytelling, where she employs elongation (walking through fields, driving through the African nothingsness etc.) and elliptical storytelling (the bloodbath takes all of 15 seconds and three or four clips) in equal measures. It's fucking bold - and works almost as well here as in her masterpiece "Beau Travail". Huppert is mesmerizing as a woman, who can't - or rather: won't - face the impending postcolonial cleansing.