“Neither chains nor masters” by Simon Moutaïrou, right to flee – Libération

Although it sometimes oscillates awkwardly between duty of remembrance and grand spectacle, the film about a slave hunt in the heart of what is now Mauritius does justice to the oppressed.

Between historical drama and survival, No chains, no masters aims to be a great popular film on the issue of slavery, until now the preserve of American cinema. With its cast mixing stars (Benoît Magimel, Camille Cottin) and young leading men (Vassili Schneider, Félix Lefebvre) and its substantial budget (nearly 8 million euros), the film almost holds up a mirror to the recent mastodon adaptations of French literary heritage, attempting to tackle, this time with rigor rather than from the angle of romantic fantasy, the history of the country and its gray areas.

Magimel as a honeyed tyrant

Simon Moutaïrou is set in 1759, in the heart of a plantation located on the “Isle de France” – today Mauritius. The tight setting of the cane plantation allows the filmmaker to immediately paint a series of portraits representative of the different cogs of the slave machine, from the governor of the island to the slaves, including Larcenet (Magimel), owner of the plantation, and Massamba (Ibrahima Mbaye Tchie), the main character of the film, “employed” as a foreman to ensure the good work of his colleagues. Nicknamed “Cicero” by his masters for whom he serves as an interpreter, the latter is subjected to the contempt of both parties, both mocked by his comrades who consider him a traitor and manipulated at his convenience by Larcenet. The appearance of