Zulu

At first it looks like a routine case for the Cape Town homicide squad when the body of 20-year-old Nicole Weiss is found in the botanical gardens. But the longer Ali Sokehla (Forest Whitaker) and his young partner Brian Epkeen (Orlando Bloom) search for the young woman's killer, the more they get on the trail of far-flung machinations whose roots go back to the apartheid regime. The fight against masterminds of the old system, who have allied themselves with the powerful dealers in the townships, soon causes the first death in the ranks of the police. Now Ali and Brian realize that they will put themselves and their families in serious danger if they continue to investigate this case. But even that doesn't stop the two disparate investigators - because the machinations of the network they're on the trail of could have deadly consequences for many people, especially in the townships.

Zulu starts out like a very conventional thriller, giving off a bit of the atmosphere of Nordic crime fare, but varying it with the more exotic setting of Cape Town in a rousing way. After the exciting but not particularly exceptional first act, however, the story takes an unusual turn, linking the history of the apartheid regime with the machinations with the problems of life in the townships and spicing that up with a tangible thriller about the machinations of an internationally operating cartel. And at the heart of it all are two cops who are forced by this case to confront the demons of their very own past.

French director Jérôme Salle, who enjoyed great success with the two Largo Winch films, has directed a very atmospheric, relentlessly brutal thriller that, while not always entirely logical, offers genuinely thrilling entertainment overall. Some small subplots don't really seem necessary in the overall context and make for minor lengths. But this is well compensated by the many very intense moments. Especially surprising is Orlando Bloom, who delivers an extremely strong and convincing performance as a completely broken hothead and thus can easily hold his own next to Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. The mismatched duo carries the film through its somewhat weaker moments and makes the whole thing a real treat in terms of acting alone.

Thus, the dense staging, atmospheric imagery and strong actors lift Zulu well above thriller mediocrity. But in the end it's still not enough for an excellent representative of the genre. This is largely due to the fact that Salle, despite the highest ambitions, struggles to enrich his fictional story with real backgrounds and thus show the reality of life in South Africa and the turmoil of the country. Despite a fair amount of bitter social criticism and some shocking scenes, the bottom line is that the thriller lacks the depth necessary to actually achieve this.

However, even if Zulu has not become the quite great masterpiece that is hiding at the core of the film, Jérôme Salle has nevertheless succeeded overall in making an outstanding and very suspenseful thriller, which not too squeamish lovers of more sophisticated genre fare should definitely not miss. Absolutely worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp