Cast: Roger Carel, Guillaume Briat, Lorànt Deutsch, Laurent Lafitte, Alain Chabat, Philippe Morier-Genoud (voices)
Directors: Louis Clichy & Alexandre Astier
Adapted by co-director Alexandre Astier from the comic book of the same name from the much-loved series authored by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, this chapter which comes about nine years after the last flick in 2006, revels in the exploits of the heroes of the little feisty Gaul village that stands up to Caesar and his Roman Legions which swept through West Asia, and Europe all the way to Britain around 100 years before Christ (they also traded with India our India, Tamil Nadu to be specific and couldn’t afford to pay for the 200 odd ships that sailed each year to Roman ports laden with silks, ivory, gems etc).
Much in the manner of Britain’s Highlanders (aka Scots) who battled the Roman hordes, the Gauls give a hard time to Caesar. Now, the plot gets really interesting and will resonate with Mumbaikars.Caesar (Philippe Morier-Genoud) decides to get into the real estate business and build a Roman housing society adjacent to the sylvan village with a view to appropriate and eventually, assimilate or swamp the Gaulish culture. And spirit. Easier said than done in this story which is designed to appeal to old and young.
The Romans, as we have seen and duly noted, from previous chapters, have to contend with the midget and giant twosome Asterix (Roger Carel) and Obelix (Guillaume Briat), not to speak of their fellow Gauls. Moi, I’ve always enjoyed each and every one of the Gaulish escapades in graphic novels and in animated flicks, as well as the live action feature starring A-lister Gerard Depardieu and Noemie Lenoir (who was a guest of honour at IFFI Goa a few years ago.
This time around, the Gauls must foil the designs of the architect, contend with the Roman captain Oursenplus (Astier) and his garrison, as well as the oily Senator Prospectus (Alain Chabat). You can be sure the Gauls will give the Romans a hard time but as things pan out, the enemy settlement and settlers inveigle the Gauls to adapt to a new lifestyle and eventually succumb to the wiles of a tourist trap (Goans will find this familiar, no?).
Look below the surface of slapstick, gags and corny dialogue and you will find a subtext of creeping urbanism v/s the rural bucolic, and real, honest-to-goodness living v/s the fleshpots of luxe. Asterix’s deliverance of the Gauls from Roman decadence is akin to Moses’ salvation of the Hebrew slaves from the oh-so-comfortable bondage of Pharaonic Egypt.
