“… And this is how we live together with nomads from the Hoggar, French and natives, in this beautiful area and we fulfill our civilizing role on behalf of France! That, of course, is our version of history ... That of the victors, because the victors are the ones who write history, right? ”
With these words, Captain Barentin explains in 1913 what the French are doing in the Sahara. The somewhat cynical undertone gives a good indication of what kind of person Barentin is. He is the French Lawrence of Arabia. Just like Lawrence, Barentin feels a close connection with the Arabs and the Arabs, in their turn, have great respect for Barentin, just like they had for Lawrence.
From 1881, France had gradually acquired a large number of colonies in North Africa, the last of which was conquered in 1911 when part of what is now Morocco became French. Since the French had great difficulty in controlling the natives, it was decided to use the nomads to get a better grip on the population. Someone who enjoyed great respect from the local population came in handy of course.
The story begins in 1919, a year after the First World War ended, with the search for Captain Barentin and his men. Second Lieutenant Dupuy tells a new recruit the story of this remarkable captain of the French army. In this flash-back we also learn more about the life of the narrator and thus also about the relationship between the settlers and the Arabs and vice versa.
Hugues Labiano, who has both written the story and did the illustrations, has made sure that this story did not become a second Lawrence of Arabia. The mentality of Barentin and Lawrence is the same and the similarity ends there. The pace of the story is slow, but certainly not boring. Although I'm not a fan of it myself, I understand the reason why Labiano chose to use flashbacks in flashbacks. In the largest sandbox in the world, all you have to spend time is the stories you tell each other.
By showing both the struggle in the Sahara and the senseless massacre on the western front, we notice that the contrast between the two continents could not be greater at that time. The same war, two completely different circumstances.
A soldier on the western front remarks: "Our generals are reading their strategy textbooks ... and apparently they read faster than they understand what they are reading!" And the result is the same everywhere. But in Sahara, the strategy textbook still needs to be written, so the generals haven’t got a clue what they’re doing.
I think Labiano's realistic drawings are very beautiful. The characters have beautiful weathered heads. He is also very good in facial expressions, even when you see only the eyes. For example, one of the characters walks almost always with a covered face, but you can see his character and emotions from the eyes alone. I also want to mention the coloring of Jérôme Maffre. He gives the term "in the heat of battle" a whole new meaning. What you see in other war comics is that the intensity of the battle is shown in the bright red colored spattering blood that contrasts sharply with a dark or drab environment. Maffre chooses to give the blood a darker shade of red and shows the intensity of the fighting by making the colors that are always very prominent in the Sahara brighter. During the battle, the temperature in the Sahara rises considerably, both literally and figuratively.
Although I do not understand why this graphic novel is called "The Four Corners of the World", I think this is a wonderful graphic novel. It is not always a cheerful album, but you can also follow Barentin's line of thought: "Dreams make you live, reality kills you". Then let's dream, I would say.
