Native Militant (2024)
| Native Militant | |
|---|---|
| File:Native Militant (2024).jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Chase Harrison |
| Written by | Chase Harrison |
| Produced by | Chase Harrison Nathan Madden Bendî Avî Ahia Puhipi |
| Starring | Grace Gibson Aidan Bennett Yousef Samuail Anthony Campbell |
| Cinematography | Callum Ellis |
| Edited by | Darcy Whitworth |
| Music by | Thomas Thomson |
Release date | 2024 |
Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country |  Albarine |
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Native Militant is a 2024 Albarinean drama film written and directed by Chase Harrison. It stars Grace Gibson as an Albarinean woman whose Zalluabedi-Anyuaan husband and son is killed in a terrorist attack perpetrated by far-right nationalists. It was nominated for Best Picture at the 98th Tofino Film Festival.
Plot
Several years after he spent four years in prison for drug dealing, during which time he has studied business administration and gotten married, Zalluabedi-Albarinean Assi Kerci lives happily with his Albarinean wife, Evelyn, and their six-year-old son, Coty. One day, Evelyn drops Coty off at Assi's office, a small travel agency in Saint Marina, so she can spend the afternoon with a friend. Heading out, she warns a young blonde woman leaving her new bicycle in front of the store that it will get stolen if she doesn't lock it up. When Evelyn returns that night she finds the street blocked off after a nail bomb detonated, killing Assi and Coty. Distraught, Evelyn tells the police about the woman with the bike and comes to believe the attack to be the work of far-right nationalists.
The police rule out a HPLF motive as Assi was neither religious nor political and initially focus on revenge by drug traffickers, though they release a composite sketch of the blonde woman. After Evelyn declines Assi's parents' request to bury the bodies in Anyuaa, Assi's mother coldly informs her at the funeral that her grandson would still be alive if Evelyn had been a better mother. Devastated, Evelyn uses drugs and later attempts suicide by slashing her wrists, but changes her mind after hearing a voicemail from her lawyer Theodore Ellis stating that two far-right nationalist suspects, married couple Mason and Eden Quin, have been caught.
At the Quin trial, Mason's father, disgusted with his son's actions, testifies how he found bags of nails, fertilizer, and diesel in the garage. The defense argues that another party could have gained access to the garage through a hidden key. Forensics match the bomb to the material found in the garage, which bears fingerprints from the couple and an unknown individual, who could have been a store employee but who the defense claims as an unknown culprit. Eleftherios Gerilis, an San Portinan hotel owner, claims the Quins were staying in San Portina at the time of the bombing. It is revealed he is a member of the far-right movement called First Alba and the Quins liked FriendSpot photos of him at a rally in Albarine. Evelyn testifies about seeing Eden outside the office but the defense calls her testimony into question by pointing out her drug use. Unable to dispel reasonable doubt due to the shared storage, the potential alibi and Evelyn's questionable testimony, the court acquits the couple.
Alerted to their location via a FriendSpot update, Evelyn searches for the Quins in San Portina by finding Makris' hotel. Evelyn follows Makris and finds the Quins living in an RV on the beach. She builds a nail bomb and plants it under the vehicle in a backpack before changing her mind and retrieving it. After a few days' contemplation, she returns to the beach and sees the Quins enter the RV. After a few moments, she enters wearing the backpack and detonates the bomb, killing herself and the Quins.
Cast
- Grace Gibson as Evelyn Kerci, wife of Assi and mother of Coty
- Aidan Bennett as Theodore Ellis, the Kercis' attorney
- Anthony Campbell as Ben Healbeck, attorney for the Quins
- Claudia Cuvillier as Samia, Evelyn's best friend
- Yousef Samuail as Assi Kerci, husband of Evelyn and father of Coty
- Joseph Griffith as Lincoln Quin, father of Mason
- Adrien Breguet as Coty Kerci, 6-year-old son of Assi and Evelyn
- Timothée Carrell as Eden Quin, far-right nationalist terrorist
- Jake McDonald as Mason Quin, far-right nationalist terrorist
- Isaac Sharpe as Eleftherios Gerilis