Claire Denis movies are quiet but explosive. The quietness of this movie in the first half almost feels deceptive and poetic. We see many scenes of the soldiers training at the camp in Djibouti without any urgency but because the movie does not say much about why they are there and what they are doing, my perspective as audience overlaps with the local’s. In a way, they are funny, weird, and beautiful, and this is partially due to Denis’s unique portrayal of military as choreographed dancers.

The duality of this soldiers comes from the main plot where we discover Galoup, the leader of the group, detests the beautiful new young recruit, Sentain. The sly and unjust behavior of Gallup makes us think that his unfounded hatred might have originated from his desire and jealousy towards Sentain’s qualities, which himself does not possess. I think this might be related to what the movie might want to say about colonialism and wars. These military actions are more of a show and yet the motivation behind them is about obsession.