01/09/2024 – Frédéric Farrucci delivers a thrilling modern western following a Corsican shepherd hunted down by mafiosi and brilliantly played by Alexis Manenti
Alexis Manenti in The Mohican
“You’ve become an anomaly in the landscape. You very well know how this will end, I won’t draw you a picture”. When the very source of your existence is threatened by dangerous characters, the choice is simple: to submit to them, or to confront them at your own risk. It’s the second option that compulsively chooses the taciturn and stubborn protagonist of Frédéric Farrucci’s captivating second feature, The Mohican, unveiled in the Orizzonti Extra programme of the 81st Venice Film Festival. Moreover, the setting is Corsica, where no one lacks character, in a territory plagued by crime that navigates between seaside business and underground independence movement.
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“We’re interested in your land – But it’s not buildable? – That isn’t your problem – I work on this land! – Monstrous interests are at play, they go beyond you”. Nicknamed “the last of the Mohicans” by a friend because he’s the last to still keep his herd of goats along the coast, on the peninsula of Santa Manza, solitary shepherd Joseph (an extraordinary Alexis Manenti) is more than a little worried about the surprise visit of these potential buyers he knows well. As a neighbour who sold his land admits, “you don’t say no to these people”. And thus they soon return, armed. The situation gets out of hand (“I became crazy”) and Joseph runs away in the bushes after leaving a dead person behind. He is now wanted by the police and chased by his enemies while his niece Vannina (Mara Taquin) investigates…