'Night of the Kings' Review
NR
Runtime: 1 Hr and 36 Minutes
Production Companies: Banshee Films, Wassakara Productions, Peripheria, Yennenga Production
Distributor: NEON
Director: Philippe Lacôte
Writer: Philippe Lacôte
Cast: Bakary Koné, Isaka Sawadogo, Steve Tientcheu
Release Date: December 30, 2020
The film follows Roman (newcomer Koné Bakary), a microbe thrust into the bowels of Abidjan's infamous La MACA prison, who must tell inmates stories on his first night or meet death at the hands of fading gang leader Blackbeard (Steven Tientcheu, Les Misérables). Roman chooses to tell the story of the Zama King, a young outlaw, taking his audience on a journey through Ivory Coast in space and time. All the while, a power struggle between prison gangs plays out off stage.
French director Philippe Lacôte’s Night of the Kings is a drama film set in the Ivory Coast prison La MACA, where a power struggle is intermixed with a Shakespearean spoken word performance. The film centers around a young inmate named Roman who is forced by gang leader Blackbeard to tell a story to all of the inmates on his first night to survive.
Lacôte’s fictionalized version of La MACA delivers an authentic atmosphere based on the actual location and the practices that occur there. Similar to the real setting itself, this prison complex is constructed like a barn where all the inmates are bunched together like a herd of sheep. They don’t even have cells, just a piece of cloth to divide them, but they have ample space to move around. Instead of presenting La MACA as a prison full of suffering, broken souls, and violence, it’s portrayed as a small society with an upbeat, energetic feel. Lacôte’s lens functions in a manner similar to Lord of the Flies, for it’s nothing but men on an island spreading chaos with a brash leader who keeps them together.
A major factor that makes the film enticing comes from observing the functionality and power struggle of the prison. Though it all takes place in the span of a day, it’s easy to comprehend the testosterone-heavy nature and how the prisoners established their own customs to spark hope and keep their spirits alive.
The main source of entertainment comes from the story that Roman tells to all the inmates. Roman tells the ballad of his fallen friend Zama King, the leader of a small criminal gang. Lacôte cuts into Roman’s story to explore the West African setting; it goes beyond the walls of La MACA and presents its story without voiceover to his narration. The story itself is fragmented since Roman is overwhelmed due to the fact that he’s storytelling for his life, but the experience itself is so lively and energetic. Throughout the tale, the inmates begin to do various actions that mimics what you’d see in a live theater performance ranging from spoken word to interpretive dances as Roman sets up the scene. Roman story turns into a performance where other inmates dance and sing and create free form poetry amongst his storytelling which is beautiful. You get a real sense of the space and size through the crisp cinematography and the camerawork composed of quick pans primarily when the inmates are crowded together listening to Roman’s story. You get truly wist away by their liveliness; it compensates for a number of the film's shortcomings.
While Night of the Kings is a lively and enjoyable experience, it often loses focus with unnecessary subplots that go nowhere. There’s an inmate who is dresses in drag and there’s a scene that involves dragphobia. That character doesn’t serve much of a purpose outside of being a prison prostitute of sorts, especially considering what the central plot is. Aside from that, there’s an underlying theme of power and control that feels a bit muddled due to too many themes being set at the forefront. For an 85-minute movie, there’s a lot of extra padding throughout.
The film works best when it's set on Roman telling his story and the rambunctious, high-spirited inmates who elevate the experience with their interactive energy. The more that Lacôte pulls the camera away from them, the more convoluted the story becomes. Night of the Kings is a decent effort that prospers from great direction and camerawork that takes advantage of the location. It also bears an immersive cinematic and theatrical experience that makes you feel like you’re at Shakespeare in the Park… but, you know, in prison.
