Camargue, late 1950s. Manuel, a young Spaniard, flees his country in the grip of civil war. He finds himself in a group of illegal workers bought by Monsieur Roger, an Italian emigrant working for Mercier to whom he rents his cheap labor. Brought to live with the other workers in a shed, Manuel meets Mouloud, a young Moroccan who is a bit simple, and Mado, a teenager with whom he discovers love. Little by little, he asserts himself in the farm through his qualities as a worker and becomes the spokesperson for the immigrants, opposing the abuse and mistreatment of Monsieur Roger...
Paul Carpita hade made a movie dealing with social issues in 1955 "les rendez vous des quais "This film ,made in the early fifties was released....... in 1990...for a limited audience .Since no channel has bothered to screen it. From the very start,it was an accursed work:the censorship banned it and at the time who cared? It was the time of the war in Indochina (even the word "Vietnam" is used).
So the director wrote "les sables mouvants " (=quicksands)screenplay in 1958 and had to wait almost 40 years to be able to film it ;thus the story takes place in the late fifties, when dictatorship ruled over Spain and Portugal; oddly , it is not an urban movie, like the other movies dealing with man 's exploitation of his fellow man ,the immigrant laborers ;one of them,Manuel,is an illegal worker:little by little ,one learns his sad story .
Manuel is a generous proud kind guy;but his character is not credible: he speaks perfect French ,is a good mechanic , a good rider , can fight the bull-calves, can talk about Goya ,he looks like an educated student ; on the other hand, his relationship with his boss,Roger,is dodgier: after treating him like a dog, The "master" realises that his
alien worker can be useful,and his attitude is ambiguous: sometimes he blackmails the young man to prevent him from showing solidarity with his unfortunate pals whose lot is unhuman;and yet ,one feels he would almost adopt him as the son he's never had without a moment's hesitation .
The action takes place in Camargue and the movie is mostly filmed on location ; there are hints at conservation areas and at the greedy estate developpers who want to build a hotel complex ; the gypsies who have their pilgrimage in Camargue (Saintes Maries De La Mer);there's a young servant the hero falls for but the farmer and the businessman covet her too ....And the quicksands of course even if the person completely swallowed by the quicksands is a myth ;the danger is actually to get stuck in them.
There are many things in this movie,perhaps too many ;and eventually ,it's the Manuel /Moroccan Mouloud friendship which gives the best scenes :he's simple-minded ,but the smart Spanish teaches him arithmetic and it works.
