“Sauvages is another adorable fable by Barras, and one that has an important message for the younger generation, so that their children can loan our planet to them too one day.”

Eight years after his massively successful debut Ma vie de Courgette, Swiss director Claude Barras returns to the festival circuit with another stop-motion animation, this time focusing on man-made ecological disasters on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. As it opens with a variation on an oft-quoted saying, “We do not own the world; we borrow it from our children,” the theme of Sauvages is laid out right from the start. A film that is aimed at the generation we borrow said world from, Sauvages is another adorable fable by Barras, and one that has an important message for that younger generation, so that their children can loan our planet to them too one day.

The half-indigenous Kéria lives with her father on the edge of the forests of Borneo. The company her father works for intends to clear large swaths of the forest to plant palm trees for the vegetable oil industry. One day an orangutan and her baby wander into camp for a remarkably human act of resistance. The mother is shot in front of her child, but the little one manages to get away and runs into the arms of Kéria, who immediately dotes on the small ape; she names it Oshi. Shortly afterwards Kéria’s cousin Selaï comes to live with them, away from the conflict between his tribe, the Penan, and the foresting company. When Selaï is labeled a ‘savage’ on his first day in school, the boy runs away into the forest, taking Oshi with him. Kéria follows them, and eventually is taken up by the tribe of her grandfather. As the troubles with the foresting company intensify, the relationship between Kéria and her father, who is harboring a family secret about Kéria’s mother, reaches breaking point.

The story of Sauvages is simple enough, and the animation lively and colorful enough, for younger children to enjoy the film at a base level, but it also has a message that holds importance for children and grown-ups alike. A film about finding your roots and fighting for your rights and for the world we live in, Sauvages tackles the destruction of forest land head-on, showing not only the detrimental effects on nature but also the threat it holds to breaking the balance between humans and animals; the displacement of indigenous people by these deforestation activities is one of the key points of the film. So it is a ‘message’ film and by nature somewhat didactic considering it also wants its message to reach a younger audience, but Barras does not forget to entertain. The stop-motion work is exemplary; especially the lighting makes the Borneo forest come alive, and the detailed soundscape provides further texture to the jungle. Small scenes involving colorful animals, from panthers to spiders to snakes, provide welcome short breaks from the adventures of Kéria and the others, these wordless encounters providing humor and a bit of a diversion for the youngest audiences from the scenes verbalizing Sauvages‘ message and from figuring out (although it’s not that hard) who the real ‘savages’ from the title are.