The shock of the crime is written on all the actors’ faces, especially Kagame, whose elegant demeanor wilts as the movie presses forward. Malagna is equally commanding as Laurence, replying to all of the questions asked of her with a polite but eery coolness that’s nearly unreadable.

As the judge and the prosecutor try desperately to determine what drove Laurence toward this choice, be it witchcraft, a mental break, or something else entirely, the audience realizes that the why isn’t the point of Diop’s film.

Since the We filmmaker chose to tell this story from Rama’s point of view, it offers a perspective toward Laurence that we wouldn’t ordinarily be privy to. A humanization that is typically only afforded to white killers. It is not to sympathize with Laurence but to allow the audience to understand the world as she may have. In court, constant racial microaggressions are lambasted toward her. Baby Elise’s father, an older married white man, continuously makes her feel othered, and as the timeline of her life in France is revealed, it becomes clearer how she may have been pulled to the edge of herself.

Alice Diop

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