The First Omen, which recently premiered — although it is not to be confused with it because of its equal impact — this indie film that was called Omen (or Augure in French, which means ‘oracle’ or ‘soothsayer’) when it was originally named. A Congolese man who is doomed returns to his roots with his wife and pregnant spouse only to discover that a few things have changed: ancient beliefs about sorcery and supernatural powers are still at work. So what could possibly go wrong after all these years during a small family reunion? Everything.
Cannes loved Omen so much that Belgium submitted it as their official entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars this year, and Baloji, an award-winning musician directs the movie. If you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix tonight where you can fall down such a deep rabbit hole of knowledge that you find out Swahili word “baloji” refers to occult forces or evil spirits although before colonialism baloji meant man of science, you know it’s gotta mean a lot to him given his stage name is Baloji. But now that I’ve whetted your appetite for this French-language Belgian (yes, that’s right) stunner which also happens to be Baloji’s debut feature length film as a director brace yourself for one helluva disjointed confusing but ultimately very thought-provoking flick about tradition vs modernity religion etcetera.
Omen begins in Europe where adult Koffi (Marc Zinga) has his giant afro – yes, we LOVE representation! — trimmed by his pregnant fiancee Alice (Lucie Debay). It’s quite striking actually because she trims off just one stripe/chunk of hair from the back leaving the rest untouched while discussing their upcoming trip back home to Kinshasa in Congo DR where Koffi was born. That shot of Koffi’s wild mane with that single one missing chunk sets an eerie mood for what is to come next (which happens when they arrive at the airport in Kinshasa and meet Koffi’s distant family).
Things don’t get better from there either, because Tshala (Eliane Umuhire), who is Koffi’s sister doesn’t show up to pick them up so it’s already off on a bad foot for this couple. She gets her own part later too though which I thought was cleverly done by Baloji as he tells this four-quadrant story where there are four main characters each representing different quadrants of life – love, hate, good evil, day night etcetera – and how sorcery applies to them.
Like when Alice and Koffi decide they need to confront the fam — with Koffi wanting to make amends and let bygones be bygones — his nose starts bleeding onto their relative’s baby. The entire extended family goes crazy but then religious leader does some sort of ritual on him saying that it will cleanse his presence from evil spirits. But modern-thinking Alice ain’t buying all this though; she says it’s just because Koffis’ got high blood pressure or something like that. I mean we’ve all been there right? It’s so much about religion today wherever you go in the world.
So why did Koffi get shunned before even coming here? And what happened between them anyway? Oh yeah well also we find out later that he has mysterious birthmark which would give Damien from The Omen a run for his money! Apparently it scared Mujila (Yves-Marina Gnahoua) so much she sent him away… What would YOU do if faced with a sorcerer?
Each of his four central characters are portrayed in different locations by Baloji. After Koffi is a sorcerer, Koffi and Alice walk through town and see an outdoor wrestling show hosted by Paco (Marcel Otete Kabeya), a young boy. Paco tries to sell sorcery as part of his image during public wrestling matches while the rest of us would mope around given such a label. Hey, can’t knock the hustle! The director uses long tracking shots outside that were taken on shaky cameras moving quickly; they indicate promise for him as a filmmaker who knows what he’s doing at least when it comes to making films about real life music scenes.
Then we meet up with sister Tshala, who — like Koffi — doesn’t seem like she buys into all these old customs of her community/family even though she’s lived among them for years (unlike Koffi). She has health problems and goes to see the local priest, whom we will see more than once in this story. All four leads are tremendous in their roles but Eliane Umuhire’s performance as Tshala is particularly strong. Also, if you think your mom is tough wait until you meet Mujila and hear how she talks down to anyone beneath her…
The way this movie tells its story may not work for everyone because sometimes time skips forward or backwards without warning thus making us confused about whether something was missed along the way but I am excited for another one from Baloji regardless of whether it involves magic or not. This gets REALLY artsy in Act Three — be ready for an epic desert bed moment! In the end though, it’s just an interesting film that looks beautiful throughout while examining cultural intersections within families/individuals’ identities.
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