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AKILLA'S ESCAPE
Director: Charles Officer Cast: Saul Williams, Thamela Mpumlwana, Donisha Rita Claire Prendergast, Vic Mensa, Olunike Adeliyi, Shomari Downer, Ronnie Rowe, Theresa Tova, Brandon Oakes, Bruce Ramsay, Cassius Crieghtney, Colm Feore MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:30 Release Date: 6/11/21 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 10, 2021 The plot of Akilla's Escape isn't special. A long-time but basically decent criminal decides to quit, only to become unintentionally caught up in something deeper—a situation that provides multiple obstacles and, perhaps, the potential for some kind of redemption. It's a familiar story, but co-writer/director Charles Officer's film is less about the plot and more about its protagonist, who is trying to free himself from generations of violence and decades of uncertainty. That man is Akilla (Saul Williams), who has run a marijuana operation in Toronto for a while. As his business recently has become legal, he doesn't want anything to do with government bureaucracy. On his final delivery to a local dispensary, Akilla has a shotgun aimed at his face. A trio of gang members is robbing the place, and by the end, one of the dispensary's managers has been killed with a machete and Akilla captures one of the thieves, a silent teenager named Sheppard (Thamela Mpumlwana). The soon-to-be-retired drug dealer wants to find out who orchestrated the robbery, without allowing any further harm to come to the kid—either from the teen's own gang or from the Greek mob from which the robbers stole. Beneath the fairly straightforward plot of Officer and the mononymous Motion's screenplay, though, is a deeper story. It has to do with the political garrisons that formed after Jamaica's independence and the decades' past death of Akilla's father Clinton (Ronnie Rowe), a Jamaican immigrant who ran a gang modelled after those garrisons in New York City. An opening montage takes us through the history of political violence in Clinton's home country, and flashbacks tell the story of a young Akilla—tellingly played by Mpumlwana, too. His father teaches him how to be warrior, as he starts in Clinton's gang, and gradually, the boy begins to see through his father's thinking and behavior, leading to a young Akilla telling the police how he witnessed his father's fall. The film, then, isn't just a crime thriller. Akilla's Escape is also a mournful examination of cycles of violence, pain, and regret. Officer's approach is subdued (save for stylish but distracting bits of neon-drenched mood lighting) and introspective, as is Williams' performance in the title role. Akilla may not say much, as his long night of scheming and reminiscing proceeds, but the actor's world-weary face tells us everything we need to know. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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