Globalization’s “New World Order” was haunted by ghosts of colonialism. A loose adaptation of Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, BEAU TRAVAIL observes the routines of a French Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade that remained in Djibouti after the country’s independence in 1977 in the name of “mutual defense” agreements. Director Claire Denis finds rare poetry in choreographed training of an army with no one to fight, personalizing restlessness in Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant) tense relationship with young recruit Gilles Sentain (Grégoire Colin). Agnès Godard's cinematography and Benjamin Britten's music add to the film’s uniquely beautiful landscapes and atmosphere, culminating in one of cinema's most celebrated final sequences.