Film Summary DCCLXXXVI (Seduto alla sua destra)


So the English translation for this movie is 'Black Jesus' and I thought they might have been laying it on a little thick with the metaphors. But no it's an apt thing to call it. 
This whole movie is a reflection persecution story of Jesus. Only instead it's a Congolese Rebel who is captured by a group of military mercenaries and then held captive and eventually executed by the local regime. 

This passive rebellious leader is supposed to sign a piece of paper that disbands his rebellious group and is supposed to bring stability to the region. 
But of course all it would do is strengthen the local regime and lead to more bloodshed for those being persecuted. 
The whole film is filled with Colonial manipulation and internal corruption with these pop up goverments propped by external forces. 
Usually from European States. 

It's just a sad story of a man being caught up in the rigmarole of it all. 
Forced into torture for his inevitable actions. 
But really most of the film is just about the interactions of two characters being held up in a small dingy jail and how they interact with each other. 
It's exceptionally high in drama and it's moves magnificently well. 
I usually complain about movies being too long but this film could have easily gone another hour if it wanted to explore more of the story. 
As it is, it's perfectly fine and an hour and 30 minutes and it's well put together.
Good camera work, excellent acting and set pieces alongside minimalistic but effective music scores. 
It's the acting of a lot of the extras that I think makes this work so well. Most of the time it's just dead people lying around on the ground or people sleeping in a bed. Very minimal.

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