A Murder in Abidjan
Crime & Punishment
•
1h 26m
Directed by Mosco Boucault • Documentary • 1997 • 86 minutes
Warning: This film contains graphic sequences of police violence, brutality, and torture.
1995. On the outskirts of Abidjan, the largest city in Ivory Coast, a policeman is murdered. Shot outside his vehicle, while his fiancée sits in the car, terrified.
Superintendent Kouassi is the detective in charge of the investigation. Tall and lanky, he moves with the tired energy of a man who has seen it all. Drawing on a network of underworld characters with dubious information, Kouassi’s team begins bringing in potential suspects and subjecting them to horrific brutality: beating them with sticks, hanging them upside-down, threatening their lives. Some of the men are left so broken they have to literally drag themselves into Kouassi’s office later, to be interrogated while lying on the floor, their bodies a mess of bruises, broken bones, and lacerations.
Part of director Mosco Boucault’s “Police Investigations” series, A MURDER IN ABIDJAN powerfully captures the banality of police violence. And it raises the question: Why use such horrific tactics when they are ultimately pointless?
Up Next in Crime & Punishment
-
Stealing Rodin
Directed by Cristóbal Valenzuela Berríos • Documentary • 2017 • 80 minutes
In the style of Exit Through the Gift Shop, Stealing Rodin is a critical and humorous statement about Art and the market around it. The documentary traces the story of Luis Onfray’s artistic and criminal act. In 2005, the...
-
What These Walls Won't Hold
Directed by Adamu Chan • Documentary • With Isabella Borgeson, Rahsaan Thomas, Lonnie Morris • 2023 • 43 minutes
Transcending the grim realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adamu Chan's powerful documentary, What These Walls Won't Hold, paints a poignant portrait of resilience and hope blossoming ...
-
My Worst Enemy
Directed by Mehran Tamadon • Documentary • With Mehran Tamadon, Zar Amir Ebrahimi • 2023 • 82 minutes
“What are you thinking? You’re thinking, ‘This is cinema. I’m sowing seeds to create a dialogue.’ Maybe you’ll be able to open a dialogue. A dialogue without any outcome.” — Zar Amir Ebrahimi
F...
