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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Slippery roads blamed in fatal crash on Siskiyou Pass ... Veterans Day events cover the valley ... Mail Tribune 100, Nov. 10, 1915 ... Slippery roads blamed in fatal crash on Siskiyou Pass ... Veterans Day events cover the valley ... Mail Tribune 100, Nov. 10, 1915 ... Movie review: Powerful, tense kidnapping story '24 Days' delivers a strong message Comment By Ed Symkus More Content Now MailTribune.com By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News There’s a slight error in judgment concerning the beginning and the end of this based-on-fact French crime story. It opens in public service announcement mode, with a character breaking the fourth wall, and addressing the viewer, saying, “I can’t believe this happened,” and it concludes with the same person saying something to the effect of, “Don’t let this happen again.” It’s very distracting. Despite that, “24 Days” has almost two hours in between that’s intense, troubling, fascinating and terrifically acted. It’s a slow-moving study of a kidnapping that happened in Paris in 2006, when Ilan (Syrus Shahidi), a shop owner in his mid-20s, fell for a pickup line from a beautiful “customer” in his store, went out on a date with her, was ambushed by four men wearing hoods, was tied up, and then stored away in a Paris apartment. Shortly after that event, phone calls and emails with outrageous ransom demands started going to his girlfriend and to his divorced father, along with warnings about not involving the police, though the police, under the assured direction of Captain Delcour (Jacques Gamblin), are immediately brought in. His captors are a shady crew; they have no official name, and no cause, beyond getting lots of money, is ever mentioned. The cops have very little to go on, even though the phone calls and the emails are arriving regularly, sometimes seconds apart. Things get confusing for them when it’s discovered that the emails are coming from Paris but the phone calls are coming from Africa’s Ivory Coast. “Give us the money, or we’ll kill your son,” screams a ranting voice on the phone, which belongs to Django, the man running the operation from Africa, while his gang in Paris does the dirty work. Cameras keep cutting between different locations: the apartment where Ilan is tucked away and kicked around by men who appear to wish they were elsewhere; the Ivory Coast, where Django (Tony Harrisson) keeps switching from cell phones to public pay phones so he can’t be traced; different spots in Paris, including police headquarters and the home of Ilan’s family, where tensions begin to grow. The heinous crime is always at the center of the film’s structure, but it starts becoming more about Ilan’s already broken family – his parents, Ruth and Didier (Zabou Breitman and Pascal Elbe) are divorced and hardly on speaking terms – having to face this new challenge, and about the hard-working but ineffective cops who keep coming up against dead ends. Yet the mystery-thriller aspects remain a constant, and pieces do slowly, much too slowly, come together. Ilan was taken because he’s Jewish and, in the minds of Django, all Jews have money, especially for ransoms. He doesn’t seem to have a plan beyond that. Two problems arise: The family does not have money, and even if they did, the police captain insists that in France, ransoms are never paid. But the worst problem is the combination feeling of hopelessness and desperation that sets in. As the ransom demands keep fluctuating – both in amount of money and whether it’s to be wired or paid in cash – it’s made clear that Django is short-tempered, dangerous and clueless. The cops, now with the addition of a well-meaning psychologist-negotiator (Sylvie Testud) are getting nowhere. Tensions steadily rise among family members as well as between gang members. The stress the film creates from all of those ingredients is actually enhanced from time to time with, at one point, a flashback to the horrific kidnapping, and at others, to what is happening to the helpless captive. “24 Days” gets its title from the fact that Ilan’s captivity lasted 24 days. Its message comes in the form of a powerful condemnation of anti-Semitism. Oddly, that part of it isn’t aimed directly at the kidnappers, who come across as being too stupid to realize they’re committing a hate crime. No, the message goes directly toward the French officials, the “prosecutors,” who try (and fail) to pull the wool over the eyes of the public by suggesting the crime had nothing to do with anti-Semitism. Here’s hoping the film will keep people’s eyes wide open. Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now 24 DAYS Written by Antoine Lacomblez, Emilie Frèche, Alexandre Arcady; directed by Alexandre Arcady With Zabou Breitman, Pascal Elbe, Jacques Gamblin, Tony Harrisson, Sylvie Testud Not rated By Ed Symkus More Content Now MailTribune.com By Ed Symkus More Content Now Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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