After the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police intervention, a young man, torn between his own desire for revenge and that of his two other brothers, tries to calm the tensions. The explosion is however inevitable…
Posted yesterday at 9:30 a.m.
This third feature film by Romain Gavras (Our day Will Come, The world is yours) imposes itself thanks to the virtuosity of a staging constantly under tension, but also by its capacity to seize a state of mind which can lead to all the skids.
The choice to name “Athena” the building complex in which second and third generation immigrant families are crammed into a Parisian suburb is not innocent. This feature film indeed borrows the form of a contemporary Greek tragedy through the destiny of a sibling. The disappearance of the youngest of a family of four boys, who died – at the age of 13 – after having apparently been beaten up by the police, will be the spark that will ignite the powder. A climate of real civil war sets in.
We obviously think of Miserables three years ago, especially since Ladj Ly, who signed the film, took part in writing the screenplay forAthena. With his expertise, Gavras opted for an immersive approach that leaves no respite to the viewer. A vertiginous sequence shot, lasting more than 10 minutes, opens this explosive drama which, even if it echoes the feeling of injustice that these marginalized French citizens have felt for a long time, avoids the pitfalls of demagoguery. The tension also stems from the marked differences between the means that the three brothers intend to take to express their indignation and to obtain justice.
Beyond the feats of achievement, Athena is a powerful social drama, which manages to translate in a very powerful way the mechanisms of a collective anger.
Launched at the Venice Film Festival, Athena is available exclusively on Netflix.
Drama
Athena
Romain Gavras
With Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti and Anthony Bajon
1:37 a.m.