In Bruno Mourral‘s farcical political comedy, “Kidnapping Inc.,” two bumbling kidnappers, Doc (Jasmuel Andri) and Zoe (Rolapthon Mercure), stumble their way through a job that goes terribly, horribly awry. Zoe, the hair-trigger-tempered rogue, accidentally kills their target, a politician’s son nicknamed Ti Ben (Patrick Joseph). With one lousy idea comes another, so he proposes to kidnap yet another man, Patrick (also Joseph), as a body double to fool his wealthy family for a ransom. They find their ideal body double on his way to the airport with his pregnant wife, Laura (Gessica Geneus), who wants to have her baby in the U.S. to secure its citizenship. Doc, the more level-headed one, tries to handle the situations as calmly as possible, occasionally trying to do the right thing as things become even more complicated. But as the events spiral out of control, the pair fall deeper and deeper into a web of political conspiracy.
Mourral’s film melds together a buddy comedy dynamic with elements of action movies and political thrillers for a strange yet wildly engrossing story. Think “Pulp Fiction” by way of “The Parallax View” set in Haiti. Most of it is shot like an action movie, complete with chase sequences, fast-moving cameras, bullets flying, the occasional bloodshed, and the screaming hysterics of the “Rush Hour” movies. Yet it’s this heightened reality that gives “Kidnapping Inc.” its distinct flavor, a sense of chaos that spares no one, that’s so over-the-top, it’s hard not to laugh at the outsized reactions and the story of characters double and triple crossing each.
Many jokes in “Kidnapping Inc.” double as poignant cultural criticisms. Mourral begins his film with facts about Haiti, providing the viewer with some cultural background before immersing them in the narrative. This movie is about the rise of kidnappings in the country, even going so far as to poke fun at their frequency, painting them like an everyday—but very scary—inconvenience without softening their very real potential for harm. The film highlights the issues that have driven desperate people into committing these acts of violence, yet it incorporates a dark sense of humor. There’s a sense of frustration over the lack of resources in place to keep citizens safe and anger at the politicians and police who are profiting off of other people’s fear and tragedy, like the characters of presidential candidate Sen. Benjamin Perralt (Ashley Laraque) and crooked cop Fritz (Manfred Marcelin).
The comedy of “Kidnapping Inc.” can be very broad or visceral at times, like when a barber tells his young customer to hold still as he finishes the cut just as Doc, Zoe, and their hostage runs past and knocks the barber’s hand clean into the young man’s face, maiming him. Another such moment happens when Doc has to help Laura give birth in the passenger seat of a car while a gaggle of women stand behind him and coach her to breathe, then compliment her baby when it arrives. A soccer match in the background stops the whole town, and the announcer keeps calling the name of the player Lionel Messi, who doubles as a descriptor for Doc, who is helping the woman give birth on the street.
The movie is also full of cultural commentary, singling out the nefarious racism that has kept light-skinned politicians and law enforcement in power over the rest of the population. It’s an issue that’s visible throughout the film, like how a cheating lover named Eddy (Marcus Boereau) chases after light-skinned Latinas like a cartoon wolf, and later, at a political gathering at a stately home, there are no representatives that look like Doc or Zoe. When Laura mentions she doesn’t want her child born in Haiti, there is more than a hint of classism in her tone but also a fear that she may not get adequate care as an asthmatic mother with a high-risk pregnancy in Haiti. The state of things in “Kidnapping Inc.” is much more complicated and nuanced than your run-of-mill comedy.
While the movie loses steam at the end and lands with a bit of a thud, the rapid-fire journey to its final destination is quite the ride. Mourral’s feature debut feels distinctly original, a smart political thriller-comedy hybrid that’s both thought-provoking yet ridiculous enough at points to forgo subtitles. Even with its “Pulp Fiction”-size cast, Mourral, co-writer/star Andri, and Gilbert Mirambeau Jr. cut between parallel storylines to bring everyone together for a madcap crescendo. Even if it falls short in some regards, “Kidnapping Inc.” is a splashy debut that commands your attention from start to finish.
