White Material is in many ways like the collection of stories by Nadine Gordimer I’m reading right now.  Both use action, not dialogue or exposition, to reveal character; and both are set (primarily) in an Africa full of racial and political tension.  

Where they differ, in my opinion, is in their view of what motivates their characters.  Gordimer always leaves puzzles and unanswerable questions, where White Material seems to cast a cynical eye to all.  Sadly, I think, I fail to recall one redeemable character.  And that includes its star, Isabelle Huppert, who presses steadily on, almost oblivious, while her farm and family and country fail around her.