Reda (Raphael Acloque) is a man trapped between two worlds. Fortunately, both of those worlds are on the island of Corsica: if you have to be stuck somewhere, a stunning Mediterranean island is a pretty good option. Now all he has to do is stay alive long enough to enjoy it.
For the last decade, Reda has been in Borgo prison, doing time for a heist that went wrong. Now he’s finally looking for freedom – but on the day of his release, he gets a letter. His half-sister Ines (Lina El Arabi) is on the island and looking forward to catching up with him after all these years. He doesn’t exactly seem thrilled at the idea.
Ines is a newly graduated magistrate, top of her class, who’s arrived to join an anti-Mafia task force run out of Corsica’s capital. The island’s beauty reminds her of North Africa —
well, it does until they pass by a massive pile of garbage. Turns out the boss in charge of collection was murdered last month, so the bin men are on strike. A local mayor was shot two days earlier after giving an anti-Mafia speech; it seems like this beautiful island has a rotten core.
The contrast between the island’s natural beauty and the human-made garbage is deliberate. The Corsican Line was filmed on location in Corsica, and it takes full advantage of the many striking locations. It’s a beautiful island; every third scene is set out front of a classic old building or on a boat offshore (it helps that the local crime boss likes to operate from his private yacht). No surprise that the first thing Reda does when he’s out of prison is go for an ocean swim and have a beer on the beach.
But that beauty helps hide what’s really going on: the beaches may be stunning, but this is an island with its head in the sand. The police struggled to establish an anti-Mafia task force because the locals thought even using the word “Mafia” was an admission that there was something seriously wrong. Ines’s new boss, Eva Maertens (Veerle Baetens) isn’t thrilled about having the young and inexperienced magistrate on board, because she knows this task force is her one shot at taking down the Mafia, and none of them can afford mistakes.
Obviously, that level of denial is exactly how the local crime crew likes it. What they don’t seem to like is Reda. After a decade doing time and keeping his mouth shut, Reda has his sights set on something higher than helping his ex-con dad (Cédric Appietto) take on the island’s garbage disposal. But it doesn’t take him long to discover that everyone from the good old days has moved on and left him behind.
His former partner, Jean-Do (Henri-Noël Tabary) is now working directly under the local mob chieftain, Carlotti (Éric Fraticelli). He never bothered to visit or pass on money when Reda was behind bars; now that Reda’s out, it’s clear that their partnership lies firmly in the distant past.
“Today’s Jean-Do is nothing like the old Jean-Do” says Reda’s former girlfriend, Alex (Antonia Desplat). She at least helped Reda when he was locked up, but that’s a secret between the two of them. Her current situation makes getting back together impossible; even a covert meeting by the beach is risky.
Much like his island home, where many of the shots would be postcard perfect if not for the garbage piled around, Reda is caught between two worlds. Part Corsican, part Arab, his mixed status is now a liability now that he’s no longer content to be a low-level thug. Crime communities rely on community ties to enforce the rules and bind their members to each other: he’s too Arab for the Corsicans and too Corsican for the Arabs.
It’s this kind of social insight that makes The Corsican Line more than just another Mafia thriller. The setting isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a real place where crime flourishes because of social change and inequality. When Reda’s father complains that crime isn’t what it used to be, with the little guys now just another kind of employee, he’s highlighting the changes the island has gone through — changes that seem too big for any one person to fight against.
Then Ines reaches out to Reda. She knows how his former friends treated him in prison, and how they’ve discarded him now that he’s out. Her offer is one of revenge: help her find out how they operate, help her track and trace their operations, and she’ll be able to take down those who ruined his life.
Of course, he tells her no. But with nobody he can really trust, and with enemies in high places, how long before he takes her up on her offer? And once he does, and starts working as a double agent in the world of organised crime, how long can he expect to survive?
The Corsican Line is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
