Ziad
is a doctor, so he has prestige within the Danish establishment. He can also
patch up wounds, which will be helpful for his second career as a street
vigilante. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take street-sweeping seriously enough
until it is almost too late in Fenar Ahmad’s Darkland (trailer
here),
which screens during the 2017 Fantastic Fest.
As
the first-generation son of Iraqi immigrants, Zaid has triumphantly integrated into
Danish society. His thuggish younger brother Yasin, not so much. After a heist
goes down badly, Yasin comes looking for help from his long-suffering brother,
but Yasin turns him away. The next time Zaid sees him, the comatose Yasin is in
need of a plug-pulling. His pregnant pasty white girl friend Stine tries to
comfort him, but he is determined to flagellate himself with guilt. He is also
increasingly frustrated by what he perceives as a lack of urgency on the part
of the police to find his brother’s killer. Of course, he attributes this to
anti-immigrant xenophobia rather than the fact Yasin was a bottom-feeding
recidivist street criminal.
Eventually,
Zaid will become so consumed with rage, he looks up a few old friends who will
help outfit him as a body-armored vigilante. It is never exactly spelled out,
but we eventually deduce Zaid’s past is more checkered than the image he
presents. Soon he starts attacking the criminal network of Semion, the local
kingpin obviously responsible for Yasin’s death. Unfortunately, Zaid is too dilettantish
about his payback, giving Semion ample time and space to strike back. All you
kids at home need to remember your revenge isn’t finished until there’s nobody
left to kill—and also, you should stay in school and study hard.
Darkland is indeed stylishly
noir, thanks to the vision of Ahmad and the cinematography of Kasper Tuxen.
However, it is the sort of revenge movie that is too embarrassed by its genre
to let us experience the vicarious payback in peace. Instead, it keeps shoving
messages down our throat about how violence never solved anything, even though
the whole of recorded human history suggests otherwise.
Still,
Borgen and Game of Thrones alumnus Dar Salim is searingly intense and darkly
brooding as Zaid. It is a quiet but muscularly physical performance. We never
accidentally overlook him as he blends into the walls, that’s for sure. Ali Sivandi
also makes a worthy nemesis for him as the flamboyantly sinister Semion.
