Save Our Souls

The Ocean Viking is the protagonist of Save Our Souls; it is at once a character, a world unto itself, an image and a metonymy: a single part that shines a light on the whole. On deck, an international crew is bustling, rehearsing vocabulary, gestures and rules, spending hours watching the sea through their binoculars, expecting the worst. The humanitarian ship often appears in the headlines, but Jean-Baptiste Bonnet has explored every nook and cranny of this microcosm to bring us its true essence. The danger of the vast, blue expanse, enemies who must be reminded of the rules of international waters and, finally, the human bonds forged on board. It is necessarily unique, intense, confined in both time and space. Hope, smiles, trauma, bodies and wounds are all brought to light. Living together simply, for a few hours or more, while waiting for permission to dock in a port, to disembark in Europe... Heroism plays no part here, either aboard the ship or in the film; a beautiful lesson in humility.

Anne Delseth

Save Our Souls, 2024
Here Were Roaring Lions, 2022
Zones, 2018