Lockdown Tower (4 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

The White Nights Festival is a two-day film festival that takes place every year, usually in January. It was cancelled the last two years because of the Coronavirus pandemic. With a title like "Lockdown Tower" you might think that the film is about the pandemic. Not at all. The original French title is simply "La Tour", i.e. "The Tower".

The tower in question is a high rise building for people dependent on welfare payments. In the English subtitles it's one of a series of towers called "The Projects". I didn't make out what the original French expression was, but in America "The Projects" are housing for residents with low income.

One day the tower is blacked out. Nobody can see out of the windows or the doors. Anyone who leaves is gone. Anything that partially leaves is also gone, i.e. if you stick your hand out of the window, your hand is severed when you pull your arm back in.

What follows is a psychological thriller in a claustrophobic environment. Gangs form to protect their own ethnic communities at the expense of all others. Some people plant vegetables in their apartments. Others eat dogs and cats. Some even become cannibals.

No explanation is given for the blackout. It just happens, and it never goes away. The film doesn't want to answer questions like that. It just shows how people react. It shows how bad human nature can be.