Philippe Lacote begins his spellbinding fable with the scenic aerial vista of a Jeep making its way through a verdant landscape to a large, imposing building. The young punk in handcuffs accompanied by armed soldiers can’t admire the view or appreciate the sweet air; he’s too anxious about his destination at the end of the rutted road.
The lad arrives at the dank Ivory Coast prison at an auspicious time, as the inmate who runs the place—subject to the arbitrary rule of the brutish authorities, of course—is nearing the end of his reign. He christens the newcomer Roman and appoints him storyteller for the evening, which the lad (played by Bakary Koné) prolongs to dawn via a procession of centuries-spanning chapters drawn from the seemingly disparate realms of folk tales and slum reality.