Streaming giant Netflix has a knack for surprise and the release of the drama Athena by genius director-clipmaker Romain Gavras is a very bold move on their part. Considering the difficult situation in Europe with the protests over low wages and rising prices of almost everything from housing to food, it seems like a very topical social commentary, so for many viewers this movie will be a very painful experience.
In addition, the filmmaking is incredible and in most of the long takes the cameraman Matias Boucard does wonders that you want to compare it to the war drama 1917 by Sam Mendes or the daring action film Extraction by Sam Hargrave.
The film is set in a Parisian ghetto, a neighborhood called Athena. A group of policemen beat to death a boy from an Arab immigrant family, which leads to a real riot. The young residents of the quarter, led by the dead man's brother Karim (Sami Slimane), demand that the police give them the perpetrators and turn the quarter into a veritable fortress, and after a raid on the police station, they get their hands on weapons and ammunition. On the side of the police is Karim's older brother Abdel (Dali Benssalah), a former military man and combat veteran who wants everything under the law, but is himself struggling to contain himself because of the pain of his loss.
At the same time, their third brother Moctar, a bandit and weasel, is trying with his accomplices to hide drugs and money in a chaotic neighborhood, ready to turn into a bloody battlefield at any moment.
The authors of the film don't play around with trivialities and in the very first minutes of the film come in from the trumps, with bold strokes placing accents on the battlefield and demonstrating fantastic choreography with the participation of dozens if not hundreds of extras. But at the same time, we mustn't forget the poetry of the presentation: the rebels line the rooftops like the defenders of Troy, Karim's anger and rage echo the heroes of myth, the lights of the torches easily rhyme with medieval torches, and the storming of the block by police units begs to be compared to the Roman legions that broke down more than a hundred cities and their brave defenders.
The work of texture, the understandable emotions and the strongest acting work make "Athena" a wonderful film and, even if the plot seems predictable to some and the ending too pompous, I think that this is exactly how a film named after the goddess of war should be. About honor, rage and blood.
Posted using CineTV