The main thing I remember from shop
class in high school is that every power tool had a horror story.
The table saw, the band saw, the planer, every piece of equipment had
a story of someone losing an appendage. In the animated film, “I
Lost My Body,” Naoufel is a young man who learns the dangers of
power tools the hard way. As the title suggests, however, this isn't
just a story of a man who loses his hand; it's also the story of a
hand trying to get back to its body.
Through beautiful animation, we see
Naoufel and his hand, living life together, as God intended. We see
them growing up as the child of immigrants in France, then making
their way as an orphan after Naoufel loses his parents. We see them
fall in love, which leads them to an apprenticeship with a carpenter,
the uncle of the object of Naoufel's affection. We also see them
after the accident, as Naoufel tries to heal his body and soul, and
his hand makes its way across Paris to reunite with him.
This is the kind of Kafkaesque story
that works best if you just relax and go with it. How does the hand,
see, for example? Don't worry about it. If you simply allow
yourself to experience this deeply existential story, it's a
thrilling ride, and one of the best films of the year. Naoufel's
story is very naturalistic, and might be banal, but it takes on extra
piquancy when set against the enchanting sequences of his hand making
its harrowing way across Paris. The film, by Jeremy Clapin, is based
on a novel by Guillaume Laurent, who wrote the screenplay for
“Amelie.” It's originally in french, but Netflix offers an
english version, with voice acting from Dev Patel and Alia Shawkat.
The best parts of the film, though, are speechless, as the hand
learns to ambulate and survive in the city.
The thing about Naoufel is that as an
orphan, even before the shop accident, he has had the experience of
losing a major part of himself. His disembodied hand has many
experiences, but the most significant is witnessing a graffiti artist
paint, on the side of a skyscraper, the words “Je suis le.” It
means, “I am the...,” and the ending is left blank, perfectly
expressing Naoufel's situation. Cut off from his family, and now
from his hand, he has to fill in that blank. Really, to some degree
or another, it's the situation we are all in.
4.5 stars out of 5
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