Les Naufragés de l’île de la Tortue (The Castaways of Turtle Island), si je me souviens bien, is a film from 1976 who was directed by Jacques Rozier. Already in the title the viewer is informed of the main joke of the rest of the film: the main character characters shamelessly try to create a resort on a lone Caribbean island, where they will find tourists that want to live while ‘castaway on a deserted Island.’ However, due to numerous circumstances the two experienced resorts builders are unable to do it and are faced with counter carnival a number of trips security logistics and mismatches with the place and the fauna.
It is a movie made with laughter while depicting the life of exploitation, modernity and the dream of running away from everything. It is rather funny how Rozier managed to capture the charming lawsuit and absurdness of idealism among characters and how hard it was for them to realize their dream island and image. The film is also graced by pleasant performances by Pierre Richard, who plays Jean-Arthur, and Maurice Risch, who plays Gilbert, comically terrifying their clumsy and adorable characters.
The movie emerges as a fantastic illustration of Rozier’s talent for merging humor with society’s problems, this time looking at humanity’s peculiarities and the dream of Eden. It is quite entertaining but also has an important message regarding how the tourism industry turns the promising concept of adventure into a simplistic and often misleading fantasy.