Judith Michelmann

Cantet's movie "Vers le sud/ Heading South" (2005) explores cultural stereotypes and values without being moralizing in a common sense. His drama deals with female sex tourism, political and social violence, power and money in such a way that people are tempted to judge the protagonists: Their desire for young black men is called "embarrassing", they are seen as corrupting and as actors in a new kind of imperialism. In fact the images in the film organize characters in a certain kind of dualism which leads easily to these argumentations. But having a look at the cultural values that produce the disgust, we see that they are all open to question.