Farid Bentoumi's film Red, which will be released on January 27, 2021, has the selection label of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. The story plunges us into the heart of a chemical plant in which Slimane (Sami Bouajila), union delegate and pivot of the company has been working for 29 years. He hires his daughter Nour (Zita Hanrot) as the company's nurse. Very quickly, she will discover the secrets hidden by the management under the pretext of preserving jobs. Lies about polluting discharges, doctored medical records and workplace accidents passed over in silence. With the help of an independent journalist (Céline Sallette), she will try to change mentalities. But at what cost?
A thriller made in France
This second film by Farid Bentoumi is a pleasant success that grabs the viewer from the first minutes to never let go. He manages to immerse us in the daily life of his heroine, Nour. She discovers the severe shortcomings of the factory that employs her. This situation takes on particular resonance today, when we know the growing place of ecology in the public debate. The film is built like a thriller. Remaining totally neutral, Farid Bentoumi chose not to take sides in any cause. Through this resolution, he suggests a simple question: how to fight against the lies of polluting industries? 
An ecological staging
The factory set chosen for the film is deliberately dressed in red mud to give it an aged and frightening look. It is planted in the heart of a nature that it continues to disfigure with impunity. On some broad shots, we have the impression of being transported in a documentary on heavy industry in China as the resemblance is striking. Note that the work on the sound is also remarkable since the aggression is not only visual. It is also sound with the noise of the factory always more aggressive. 
Rouge is also inspired by the case of red mud discharges in the Mediterranean dumped by the Alteo alumina plant in Gardanne. It was very well documented by Anne Sylvain for France information. Filmmakers are beginning to look more and more at the ecological scandals that destroy lives. Let us remember at the beginning of the year the American film by Todd Haynes, Dark Waters.
Red: A generational vision
The father-daughter relationship is shown here from an angle little treated in cinema. The character of Slimane works to live and provide for the well-being of his family. As such, he sometimes chooses to close his eyes to keep his job. Conversely, Nour, works out of conviction, she is immediately challenged by the factory's infractions. This choice of relationship is above all a generational opposition where two visions of society and the professional environment collide. The film gives us to see a succession of the sometimes idealistic younger generations who want to reshape the world. Farid Bentouni succeeds magnificently in highlighting the contradictions of a world focused on growth and the profit that he forgets its life. We quickly identify with the character of Nour. And one question concerns us: What would we do in his place? Rouge perfectly demonstrates the usefulness of cinema in our contemporary society. Its function is not only to entertain us, it is also to open our eyes to subjects passed under a deafening silence. https://youtu.be/_4iOYUQzLHU
