In theaters this week, the epic and intense epic about Chilean history has been honored at Cannes

A historic mural, sublime and icy, in the heart of Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego, Republic of Chile, 1901. A vast, fertile territory that the white aristocracy is trying to “civilize”.

To evict the local population from their land and open a route to the Atlantic, a wealthy landowner hires three horsemen: a former British army lieutenant (Mark Stanley), an American mercenary (Benjamin Westfall) and a young Chilean of mixed race (Camillo). Arancibia). Witnessing the brutal methods of his two comrades, the latter discovers the price of nation-building, the price of blood and lies.

Shot in the wild and icy expanses of Tierra del Fuego, the images that make up the first hour of The Settlers are period pictures carefully structured by young director Felipe Gálvez Haberle. Every extra, every detail, and every light seems to be chosen in accordance with the broad outline of history to present a vision of the period of colonization fantasized by the white man.

But very quickly, that paintwork cracks to reveal a very faithful statement. Far from being a “simple” modern Western, the film Felipe Galvez Haberle Advocates rewriting his country’s official history to inform his contemporaries of the macabre reality too often hidden.

An unprecedented presentation of a brutal and little-known historical episode

of Chilean origin, Felipe Galvez Haberle Made a name for himself at Cannes in 2018, where his short film Rapaz didn’t go unnoticed and opened a debate on the border between justice and violence, even if it meant entering a polemical register.

Today, a filmmaker wonders what his first feature film is like. SettlersThe Chilean chosen to represent Chile at the next Oscar ceremony will be accepted by the public. “I have a feeling I dropped the bomb again with this moviehe explains. Rapaaz, my previous short film that won an award at Critics’ Week, created controversy. And it’s going to be a little bit of the same, the same discussions or positions that come out.“

at the recent Cannes Film Festival, Settlers won the International Federation of the Cinematographic Press (FIPRESCI), thus winning its Un Certain Regard prize. But the director doubts that his commitment will be to everyone’s taste. “The plot of the film is not part of the official history of Chilecontinues the filmmaker. It is not included in the school curriculum either. I knew nothing of the genocide of the Selknam Indians in our country, whom the whites called Ona. I discovered this fifteen years ago by reading an article that mentioned this hidden reality of genocide.

Paradoxically, the frost in Chile is part of the popular image today. When you go to the airport, you will see Selknam dolls, chocolate, wine with their image. What interests me in all of this, and through the film, is how this story has entered the national imagination now, while this population has almost disappeared. The film begins with this observation, this contradiction.“

Refusing to conform to the stage set by white settlement, Felipe Gálvez Haberle, with his first feature film, offers a hitherto hidden vision of the carnage on which the Chilean nation rests. A cinematic marvel of unprecedented historical heft, The Colons opens in theaters on December 20.