Solenopsis invicta

It looks like a little paradise, this Sicilian cactus nursery where plants, insects, and a remarkable group of people form a harmonious community. In this sheltered place, the world of war and violence beyond the garden walls feels far away. “A home,” one of the cactus growers calls it.

Victor Missud lets the participants in this poetic group portrait shine as themselves, but also has them play roles created during the shoot. Due to the continual intermingling of observational documentary, performance, and invention, chance elements—an unexpected soccer goal, a strange object—take on a magical aura.

Yet this locus amoenus, this idyllic refuge, is vulnerable. This becomes apparent when the outside world suddenly intrudes in the form of the fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), pursued by exterminators in protective suits spreading clouds of poison. A metaphor is never far away.