Wùlu (2016) User Reviews

Who or what is the main enemy here?

[tildiz149 · 6/10 · 30 October 2023]

Ladji works as a van driver in Mali. He seems to be quite tired or bored with his work. One day he accepts to smuggle drugs. After that, he starts making a lot more money than usual. Ladji also has a sister. Her name is Aminata and she can, because of the new big money, say goodbye to her work as a prostitute.

I must ask an important question. Who or what is the main enemy here? Is it the drugs, Ladji´s some sort of inner demons, the border control, the Malian government or one of Ladji´s bosses or co-workers? Personally, I´m not sure. But my guess is the drugs.

And where is Ladji´s and Aminata´s parents? Why doesn´t anybody talk about them? Are they dead or alive? Did they abandon or disown their children? Are they just on vacation? Do they know anything about their children´s everyday life? It´s very important to have good role models. It can be a parent or a guardian. Who is Ladji´s or Aminata´s role model?

I think that "Wùlu" is quite good. But for me it isn´t a great masterpiece. I think that too many questions were left unanswered. Should I recommend "Wùlu"? If so, to whom?

Not only an African crime movie

[johnpierrepatrick · 7/10 · 28 June 2020]

If Wulu tells indeed how a young man joined the drug crime and climbed its rank. Ladji character is harsh, focused on his objective but also sensitive and its portrait is nicely painted in the movie.

But this is not only a movie about crime and it is also the depiction of modern East Africa Its cities, and the dynamics, the vitality peculiar to Africa. The pit between common people from the wealthy, the future they can hope, and of course, the corruption at all levels. The director also used the story to show and denounces the links between crime and terrorism. All in all, it draws a harsh but true to the situation political assessment

To sum up, Wulu is already itself a good crime drama, and becomes thanks to that a real nice movie and deserves your attention.

Over the top crime drama from Africa

[searchanddestroy-1 · 15 June 2017]

I have always craved for crime flicks from all over the world: America, UK, Europe, Israel, Asia, Iran, Australia, and of course Africa. And this film is among the best for me. The tale of a young man and hoodlum who decides to get involved in the drug traffic, high scale traffic, to at last get out from poverty. It is a social crime feature, so realistic and played in the best manner. Actors are excellent, and you have here a shooting sequence aboard a car which is far better than most US made ones, a so realistic scene that glues you to your seat. You find here the rise and fall scheme of a hoodlum, which you have in most gangster movies from all over the planet since so many years. A real must see. Far better than Hollywood billion dollars super heroes craps.

Terrific little thriller

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 28 March 2018]

Shot for a good deal of the time using hand-held cameras, "Wulu" is an African thriller that has an urgency and a vibrancy most Western made films lack. Ladji, (a beautifully understated Ibrahim Koma), is the young man who, after losing his job on the cross-border taxis, takes up smuggling cocaine with lucrative if highly dangerous results. First-time director Daouda Coulibaly knows how to construct a narrative that is tight and punchy with never a wasted shot. The film has the feel of a great little B-Movie; the locations may be exotically different from what we're used to but Don Siegel could have made this and that, by the way, is a compliment. Totally terrific.

Dirt and glamour

[oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx · 9/10 · 19 April 2018]

This one's a little firecracker. An astute and observant young Malian man gets tired of life working as a porter on a minibus after he is leapfrogged in the hierarchy due to nepotism. There is no reward for his loyalty on square street so he tries a more crooked path. His talent is quickly recognised by local narcotics traffickers and he handles a number of increasingly taxing operations whilst affording a life he could only have dreamed of previously including sampling the luxuries of Bamako's flesh pots. He stays alive by his sharp wits and nerves of steel through some perilous situations, including tangling with Al Qaeda. Ladji is naturally an upright person and an impressive man and so the moral hazards he exposes himself to inevitably takes a toll, as does the realisation that he can never be accepted into posh society. The director though has a feel for and education in the crime genre such that you never feel, "I've seen it all before".

I felt watching the film that I got an interesting insight into some of the cultural complexities and vibrancy of Mali. Wùlu means dog and is a dual reference to the fact the Ladji becomes a dog in order to try and achieve the lifestyle he's looking for, and also to the stage of learning in Bambaran culture when one is taught how to fit into the world.

Hollywood should be scared, because Africa is coming, this movie had an incredible vibe, and the continent is starting to produce movies that make many Hollywood ones look average. Wùlu is Daouda Coulibaly giving Michael Mann a run for his money, with his debut feature film!