Djibouti HD Released

 

It’s puzzling that most of the Malayalam films with their stories set in African countries are about the central characters in them trying to escape from the respective places. Presenting stories wrapped in cliched impressions of the continent, lining up a few ethnic characters and moments featuring the African scenic beauty, they couldn’t escape the clutches of predictability. Djibouti, which features another escape story, has a more or less similar plot.

Hanna (Shagun Jaswal), a Djiboutian girl travelling in Kerala, befriends Idukki men Louie (Amith Chakkalakkal) and Aby (Jacob Gregory) and gets them jobs in the African country. Once they reach Djibouti, they deal with issues they hadn’t foreseen and have no other way but to escape from the place.

For those thinking about holidaying in Africa, the film offers a glimpse into some picturesque locations in the country, featuring some of its chase sequences in its pretty beaches, valleys and even certain sunbaked stretches. There sure must have been some great days of work put into shooting in these terrains, that, too, amid the pandemic restrictions, and the team deserves applause for attempting the same.

Despite having a plot with endless potential, the film hasn’t been able to make the best out of it due to poor editing choices. Right from the beginning, there are many sequences and dialogues that do nothing other than simply prolonging the running time. This includes a handful of song sequences too, that lack fizz. The absence of BGMs is glaring in a handful of scenes that would have benefitted from some good mood-lifter tunes.

The logical loopholes in the story also make a few of the characters look too naïve and unwary to be credible. And this in turn makes it difficult to even make sense out of the bonds and equations they form with other people in the story. The movie attempts to elicit situational comedy at many junctures with poor results, and even certain romantic scenes, like the sunset sequence set in Kerala, look staged and theatrical. A well-paced narrative, that a movie of this sort demands, is mostly absent in Djibouti.