“You, my friend, are the beginning of something great. Tick tock.
Zero, directed by Jean Luc Herbulot, is an actions film that wants to be philosophical and reflect a social consciousness. In the end, it never really give us enough to satisfy either as a thriller, or a think piece.
We start with #1 (Hus Miller, who also co-wrote with Herbulot) waking up on a bus in Dakar, Senegal. He has no idea where he is. He can’t find his things. In his confusion, the others on the bus laugh at the foreigner—until his jacket comes open and reveals a bomb vest that begins counting down from 10 hours. He is given a phone by a stranger. The voice on the phone (Willem Dafoe) tells him he must complete 5 missions or blow up. The voice is all seeing and all knowing. (Is this God?) He gives turn by turn instructions to avoid police to get where he needs to be to learn of the first mission.
There he is also connected with #2 (Cam McHarg), a rough and violent man who also has a bomb vest showing an identical countdown. They learn that together they must get through these trials while trying to avoid the police and others who might want to stop them. That pretty much accounts for the action/thriller part of the movie.
The philosophical/social consciousness part is based in the holdover effects of colonialism in Africa. Two Americans who seem to be terrorists in an Islamic country makes this appear to the people in the film of something of a reverse 9/11. We learn the two represent two aspects of America – wealth (#1) and violence (#2). Later on, one of the people they encounter tells them that America is a disease.
Such ham-fisted commentary doesn’t really serve the film in getting viewers to consider the ways African nations continue to be filled with poverty, even though they are rich in resources. While the US is not without blame in the situation, it is European nations that controlled and oppressed Africa for so long.
A key flaw in the film is lack of a protagonist we care about. #1 gets our attention quickly, but there is something “ugly American” about him. #2 seems to be a thug. Along the line we get bits of their backstory, but it is too little too late for us to really care if the bombs go off or not. It also keeps us from caring very much about the “something great” this plot is meant to ignite.
Zero is in theaters and available on VOD
Photos courtesy of Well Go USA.
