Black (2009)

Director:

Pierre Laffargue

Writers:

Pierre Laffargue (writer)
Lucio Mad (writer)

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (France)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

A Senegalese bank-robber born and raised in France is getting over a disastrous heist. As he considers going straight, his cousin calls him from Dakar with an easy opportunity. |

Plot Keywords:

Dakar | Pistol | Diamond Heist | Hiding | Black Panther

Awards:

1 win

Cast

MC Jean Gab'1	...	Black
Carole Karemera	...	Pamela
François Levantal	...	Degrand
Anton Yakovlev	...	Ouliakov
Christophe Aquillon	...	Braqueur Paris
Ludovic Berthillot	...	Le mercenaire
Laurent Larrieu	...	Un mercenaire
Thierno Ndiaye	...	Le marabout
Ibrahima Mbaye	...	Lamine
Michel B. Dupérial	...	Kumassi
Tapha Gueye	...	Le chef des lutteurs
Nicky Naude	...	Pedersen
Louis-Karim Nébati	...	Bozyeux
Youssef Hajdi	...	Al Kaïd
François Bredon	...	Masta

Runtime:

Germany:115 min (European Film Market)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Company:

Chic Films

A French Shaft Goes to Africa

Black (2009) IMDb Fantasia Directed by Pierre Laffargue Written by Pierre Laffargue, Lucio Mad and Gábor Rassov

An African tribal shaman is ranting on a street corner in Paris about a prophecy concerning the rise of the evil Snake and the need for the champions Lion and Panther to come together to beat Snake. While crossing the street, the shaman's eyes lock on the eyes of a garbageman with a lion birth-mark on his right cheek. The shaman declares that this man is Lion while the garbageman humours him to get him out of the way of the garbage truck.

The man with the lion birthmark is Black (played by French rapper MC Jean Gab'1 - probably best known to North American audiences for playing Nico in District 13.) Black is disguised as a garbageman, on his way with a crew to rob an armored car. After this heist goes disastrously wrong, Black is hiding out at home when his cousin from Dakar calls to tell him of a briefcase stored in the safety deposit of the local bank filled with diamonds. Black puts together another crew and heads for Dakar to steal the diamonds...

"Did you think you could just come to Dakar and steal the diamonds from the stupid Africans?" Black is asked at one point. Black's journey is nowhere near that simple.

Director Pierre Laffargue effortlessly quotes other films and genres while keeping Black its own movie. The film literally goes from Dassin's Rififi to Mamet's Heist to Kramer's The Defiant Ones to Peckinpah's The Getaway in dizzying succession, but all these are just masks for what is at its' heart an African story.

Black's journey from Paris to urban Dakar and from there deeper into the heart of Africa is punctuated by an amazing soundtrack. From the opening credits, where we follow Black's garbage truck through the highways of Paris while a slow smoky jazz cover of Also Sprach Zarathustra plays, the soundtrack ably serves the film - slowly transforming from cool Parisian jazz to more African beats, mirroring Black's transformation from cool Parisian bad guy to tribal African hero.

If MC Jean Gab'1 keeps getting scripts and direction like this, he could become a great film action hero. He has both the charisma and the the acting chops. At least in this film, he also has a flexible definition of action hero, using guns (small and large), grenades, knives and fists to win his fights, taking the weapons that are available to him and using them all with skill. Most importantly, he has the swagger. He truly believes that if he isn't the strongest man in the room or the fastest, he is definitely the smartest.

If the film has a weakness, it is that MC Jean Gab'1 is so good that he completely outclasses his adversaries. The only actor to keep up with him and match him is Carole Karemera as Pamela. François Levantal does his best in a part that could have gone dangerously awry and wrestles Lagrande just this side of too over the top, but Anton Yakovlev's Ouliakov is a cartoonish bad guy who wandered in from a Jean-Claude Van Damme film when a more nuanced Peckinpah bad guy was needed.

Ultimately, the film is not about the obstacles that Black meets on his journey, it is about the journey itself and I strongly encourage you to hunt out Black to take that journey as well.