Captured by the US Military in Afghanistan, Mohammed is transported to a secret detention centre in Europe. When the vehicle he is riding in crashes he finds himself suddenly free and on the run in a snow blanketed forest, a world away from the desert home he knew. Relentlessly pursued by an army that does not officially exist, Mohammed must confront the necessity to kill in order to survive.
Film Crew
- : Jerzy Skolimowski
- : Ewa Piaskowska
- : Adam Sikora
- : Jerzy Skolimowski
- : Andrew Lowe
- : Ewa Piaskowska
- : Anne Hamre
- : Réka Lemhényi
- : Kristoffer Jørgensen
- : Fiadhnait McCann
Technical Information
- Color
- English
Images
Videos
Trailer
After being captured by American forces in Afghanistan, a man finds himself taken to a nameless European country, which he must escape to stay alive.-
Essential Killing’ is a ruthless, darkly funny survival movie charged with provocative political undertones. Vincent Gallo delivers a career-best performance (helped no end by the fact he is silent throughout) as a nameless, petrified Jihadi soldier who is captured by American troops, subjected to torture and who then escapes into a snowy wilderness while being rendered across country. The film asks how low would you go to preserve your own life, as Gallo’s encroaching delirium leads him to plumb ever more base depths. Delivering an absolute minimum of context, the film dares us to forge our own reasons for rooting for or despising this savage.
David Jenkins, TimeOut London -
There is something compellingly real in Mohammed's increasing cold and hunger, driving him almost insane, and leading him to an extraordinary scene when he chances upon a peasant woman nursing a baby. In these extraordinary moments, Essential Killing looks like a forgotten chapter from the end of the second world war. The film is on the verge of delirium: a gripping metaphysical drama.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian -
Adam Sikora’s images are a feast, whether in bright gold and yellow, when shot near the Dead Sea in Israel (standing in for Afghanistan), or in the mostly black-and-white Polish and Norwegian mountain forests.
Dan Fainaru, Screen Daily
The scene with the woman on the bike, with the baby, will haunt me forever. Vincent Gallo really goes for it.