‘Athena’ film overview: Romain Gavras provides us a spectacle to behold

Maybe, one of the best factor about Athena is the truth that it looks like a true-blue film expertise; an actual “let’s go to the theatres and watch this” movie, regardless of it being distributed by Netflix.

Director Romain Gavras’ filmmaking model and the cinematography, alongside a surprising soundtrack, is sure to depart you spellbound.

Set in a French banlieue, the action-drama paperwork the day-long occasions within the neighbourhood of Athena, within the wake of the killing of Idir, a French-Algerian. It primarily focuses on Idir’s brothers: Karim (Sami Slimane), a hot-blooded group chief who’s on the prowl for the cops accountable for his brother’s demise with a Molotov cocktail in his hand; Abdel (Dali Benssalah), a adorned soldier within the French Military who is decided that following “due course of” will beget justice for his brother; and Moktar (Ouassini Embarek) an opportunist drug supplier who tries to make a fast buck throughout instances of instability and their tryst with revenge, justice and peace. The brothers, over the course of ninety minutes, chart out the restricted potentialities obtainable to immigrants to navigate a system that’s constructed to fail them. 

The opening sequence of the movie, which lasts simply over ten minutes, is sufficient to put you on the sting of your seat for the remainder of the length. It begins with Abdel at a press convention, assuring everybody that the authorities involved are doing all the pieces of their energy to deliver Idir’s murderers to justice. Karim, who’s current within the crowd, doesn’t utter a phrase, however lights up a Molotov cocktail and hurls it on the stage, setting into movement a series of occasions that deliver the rebels and police right into a tense confrontation on the streets of Athena. 

The plot is easy and Gavras doesn’t delve into flashbacks to motive with the viewers, making his artfully-choreographed sequences exceptionally risky. Whereas the frames are tight, the sequences are lengthy sufficient for the characters to jot down themselves. The concise plot additionally helps heighten the nervousness of the movie and convey the French political milieu to the fore. 

Actors Sami Slimane and Dali Benssalah are phenomenal of their roles as embattled brothers immersed in grief.

Nonetheless, the film fumbles proper when it reaches its crescendo; a confrontation between Karim and Abdel, that ends in Abdel extinguishing the fireplace started by yet one more of Karim’s Molotovs. It dilutes its critique of police brutality and veers in the direction of occasions that appear to enterprise into the realm of conspiracies. The narrative loses a way of path, particularly with the character of Sebastian taking prominence in the direction of the tip.

Nonetheless, the largest qualm with the narrative is the absence of feminine characters. In an try and flex his filmmaking muscle, Gavras excludes girls from his revolution; the identify of the neighbourhood that types the backdrop of his battleground makes this choice much more ironic.

Regardless of its flaws, Athena is rousing, explosive and makes for an awesome cinematic expertise.

Athena is at present streaming on Netflix.