Every year there’s a chance that the river Seine might flood, and in such a case the authorities have developed a contingency measure called “Le plan Neptune”. When disaster does strike, only two are left unaffected by the social and ecological crisis – one wise, and the other – insane. One is the guardian of the temple – a Zouave. Armed with his imagination, he prepares to save himself from ruin.

Historically, the Zouaves were a class of infantry regiments recruited in Algeria. In 1961, at the conclusion of the Algerian War of Independence, several hundred Algerianswere drowned in the river Seine. Combining colonial history, the legacy of imperialism and an eschatological world-view, French director Simon Fravega has created an allegory-like fable where the characters try to find ways to flee or to somehow cheat death.