'Night of the Kings' Review: Watch Philippe Lacôte's Movie Online

Rolling Stone
Steeped in Ivory Coast’s Myth and Ritual, ‘Night of the Kings’ Is No Ordinary Prison Drama
Writer-director Philippe Lacôte’s movie combines fact and fabulism, displaying the power of the West African griot
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“Tell me a story.” This is the command that Roman (Bakary Koné), a new arrival at La Maca penitentiary — a forest-borne fortress just outside of the Ivory Coast’s capital, Abidjan — is given almost as soon as he arrives. It’s quite a welcome. Dismissed by the prison’s guards for the gang affiliations that landed him here, Roman is thrown into the “jungle,” as the guards call it. And as soon as he arrives, everything else stops. Another inmate, the feminine Sexy (Gbazi Yves Landry), has just been knocked to the ground, portending violence that one needn’t have to see to be able to imagine. But then comes Roman — not the name he was born with, but rather the one he’s been given. Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu), the Dangôro of the inmates — their ruler — gives him the name, a way of conferring status. Roman is being anointed. But not without a cost. 

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