Movie Review: Athena (2022)

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

I absolutely adored this film, and if it isn’t on your radar, it should be. Athena is a beautifully shot and stressful journey through a chaotic riot brought forth by racism.

The community of Athena is shaken by the death of a young boy at the hands of the local police. Fed up by the police brutality plaguing his community, Karim takes arms against those who killed his brother. Riots break out, and with the help of the local gangs, Karim wages war against the police. Will he be able to bring his brother’s killers to justice? Will this war bring the change Karim is hoping for?

The film is in French, with subtitles available in many languages. The acting is fantastic, although I only understood bits of it. The big draw to this movie is how perfectly it captures the chaos of the riots. I was blown away by the long sequences that beautifully told this chaotic story. I respect the amount of work and coordination required to make such a massive conflict fit within this movie.

There is some dialogue, all of it is key to the story, but most of the storytelling is achieved through these long sequences. The clashes with the police and the long walks through the war-torn apartments tell an amazing story with very few words. The story told is intense and suspenseful. I was at the edge of my seat, consistently stressed by the escalating conflict throughout the whole experience, and it was wonderful.

Stream it now on Netflix.

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