Antigone

2019, 109 minutes

Antigone and her siblings fled from Algeria to Canada when they were small. When one day Antigone’s older brother is unjustly killed by the police, and her other brother faces deportation, she concocts a dangerous plan to save the family. Compassionate drama about sacrifice, justice and the immigrant experience.

After her parents were killed in Algeria when she was just 3 years old, Antigone found refuge in Montreal, together with her sister Ismène, her brothers Polynice and Étéocle and their grandmother. Now a teenager, Antigone witnesses Polynice fall into a life of crime. And when the police break up a street game of dice, Étéocle is shot dead when he protests his brother’s arrest. Polynice is taken into custody and faces deportation for assaulting an officer.

Antigone (beautifully played by newcomer Nahéma Ricci), thinks she can save Polynice with a bizarre plan to sacrifice herself. But the police will not play ball, and Antigone and her family find out that the wheels of justice turn differently for immigrants. Loosely based on Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, about a woman who defies the law out of loyalty to her family.

Credits

Themes
Crime, Justice and law, Migration and refugees
Suitable for
havo/vwo - bovenbouw
hbo/wo
mbo - niveau 3 & 4
vmbo t - leerjaar 3 & 4
Director
Sophie Deraspe
Country of production
Canada
Type
Fiction
Duration
109 minutes
Year
2019
Age rating
AL