‘Omen’: Cannes Review

Dir/scr: Baloji. Belgium/Netherlands/Democratic Republic of Congo. 2023. 91mins

In his confident feature directorial debut, hip-hop musician and visual artist Baloji tells the story of a Congolese man returning to his homeland with his European fiancee after long being exiled, only to find that his estranged family still views him with disdain. Omen is a commentary on prejudice and the clashing of cultures, but there is a noticeable despondency and edge to the proceedings as the enlightened main character grapples with an impoverished community in which ancient fears about sorcerers and witches remain. But although Baloji is critical of such narrow-minded thinking, he also has compassion for the need to reconnect with one’s kin – even if they have shunned you for the most ignorant of reasons. 

A commentary on prejudice and the clashing of cultures

Baloji’s striking drama, which screens in Un Certain Regard, suggests a bright future for a filmmaker with an appreciation for atmosphere and character. His most recent short, 2019’s Zombies, played at the London Film Festival and, although Omen may not have broad commercial appeal, further festival play still seems assured.

Marc Zinga plays Koffi, who has lived in Europe for many years and is happily engaged to Alice (Lucie Debay) who is pregnant with twins. With some anxiety, he travels home to the Democratic Republic of Congo to introduce Alice to his family and to share their happy news; even though they ostracised him, believing he was touched by evil spirits. Sadly, Koffi’s concerns prove to be well-founded considering the chilly response he receives from his mother, Mama Mujila (Yves-Marina Gnahoua), but he’s determined to make peace with his family — including his father, who works in the local mines and never comes to see his son.

Opening with a poetic shot of a woman riding a horse through a desolate desert, Omen occasionally flirts with heightened realism as Koffi and Alice become immersed in the landscape and poverty of his birthplace. For Alice, who is unaware of Koffi’s family’s customs, there are shocks in store, like when he accidentally gets a nosebleed at an inopportune moment prompting those around him to believe that it’s a sign of his devilish nature. Koffi’s punishment is alarming, but the man’s patience with his family suggests a deep love — and the hope that reconciliation is still possible. 

Baloji, who was born in Congo and is now based in Belgium, broadens his focus to make room for other characters, including Paco (Marcel Otete Kabeya), a member of a local gang called The Goonz. As soon becomes apparent, Koffi isn’t the only one who has been accused of sorcery, and Omen chronicles how each of these individuals — including Koffi’s progressive sister Tshala (Eliane Umuhire) — learns to cope with their own form of exile. 

The performances are uniformly strong, with even the blinkered characters given enough nuance that we sense how prejudice has eaten away at their souls. Gnahoua’s stern turn as Koffi’s mother has a palpable weight to it — Mama Mujila’s cutting glare could draw blood — but the actress conveys surprising mournfulness when this matriarch later reveals new information about the family’s inner dynamics. Meanwhile, Zinga brings grace and decency to his portrayal of Koffi, a modest man who doesn’t want to give up on the love he is convinced his parents still harbour for him. Alice is an outsider in this world – Koffi’s family is aghast that he would dare marry a white European — but Debay never overdoes her character’s confusion or anger as she sees what her fiance must endure.

It is a testament to Baloji’s talent that, although it would be easy to judge Koffi’s family, he complicates matters for the viewer. Through Koffi’s sad but determined eyes, we understand that those bonds with our ancestors are sometimes harder to sever than one might think and Omen demonstrates how painful that process can be. Still, it’s clear whose side Baloji is on, valuing a world of inclusion and tolerance that’s free of the superstitions and hatreds of the past. As the film reaches its conclusion, he and cinematographer Joaquim Philippe conjure up some suitably bewitching imagery that gives the story a mystical dimension. Koffi’s family fears what it does not understand, dismissing it as witchcraft – so it’s fitting that Omen ends up containing a little magic.