We need stories to survive. This notion becomes explicit in Night of the Kings, writer-director Philippe Lacote’s dystopian drama about a jungle prison in Ivory Coast where the inmates have taken over and formed a ruthless tribal society. Sick and near death, the current strongman—a hulking, wheezing giant known as Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu)—tries to distract the prisoners (and circling successors) by forcing a new arrival (Bakary Koné) to serve the traditional role of “Roman,” a storyteller who’s allowed to live as long as he can spin a compelling tale to the gathered throng. As the desperate yarn unfurls—part personal history, part folklore, part overview of Ivory Coast politics—the watching men occasionally join in, singing a song or, when a scorpion is mentioned, arranging their bodies so that they resemble the undulating shape of the arachnid. Part poetry slam, part dance performance, part survivalist nightmare, Night of Kings imagines narrative as a saving grace, even in the darkest place.
