Film Review: “Ashkal,” A Lonely Death in an Abandoned City

I love police procedurals in unique locations

Shows like True Detective or movies like Frozen Ground and Cold in July excellently use their setting to enhance the story. Their world becomes a character and can often reflect or enhance the mood of the characters in a story. Director Youssef Chebbi understood this idea when shooting Ashkal, allowing his gaunt cinematography and methodic pacing to craft a bleak Tunisian horror-crime film.

Ashkal follows Fatma (Fatma Oussaifi) and Batal (Mohamed Grayaa), two police investigators who track a series of self-immolations in abandoned buildings throughout Carthage. The film takes place throughout the Gardens of Carthage, a series of abandoned construction sights that were meant to house dignitaries prior to the Arab Spring. Chebbi makes effective use of these buildings, showing them looming dauntingly over crime scenes and enveloping the police. These overwhelming, barren buildings are overwhelming effectively highlight how isolated these people feel moments before their death. As the police debate whether the deaths are murders or suicides, the direction highlights the hopelessness the victims must have felt, and the helplessness of the police.

The investigation itself is solid, as the story runs through the increasing death rates and potential cover-ups by political powers in the police force. The pacing may be a bit too slow for some, but the narrative is intriguing enough for genre fans to be invested. While Fatma Oussaifi and Mohamed Grayaa deliver fine performances, but I found characterization to be rather weak. Their characters just aren’t interesting enough to guide me through the slow pace, and even the direction feels transfixed on their surroundings rather than on them. It feels like Chebbi is more invested in his environment and story rather than his characters, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but does make it challenging when the film is densely paced.

Ashkal is an intriguing and atmospheric thriller that balances horror and police procedural well. While the slow pace and limited characterization may put off some, but those who stick through it will be rewarded by the end. The film is deeply chilling, and crime fans who want a unique, near nihilistic film experience will find it in Ashkal.