On Réunion island, there is an entire industry devoted to protective talismans that are bought and sold to ward off bad luck. These “magical insurance policies” or garantis, as they’re known, can be as simple as a sash of cloth, or involve more intricately designed bracelets or belts. In striking black-and-white cinematography, Laurent Pantaléon heads to his home island to embrace the various rituals of witchcraft and magic influenced by the mixing of Hinduism, Voodoo, Catholicism and Buddhism that occurred after French colonization. In this rich survey of spiritualism, the director breathes life into ways of understanding ancestral knowledge and healing that are often overlooked by Westerners. By meeting with witch doctors, firewalkers, spell-book dealers and healers, Pantaléon seeks what many of us are searching for: certainty in uncertain times and, for him personally, a garanti that will bring his film success. Vivian Belik.
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