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THE RED ARMY

L'ARMÉE ROUGE

By Luca CIRIELLO

Documentary - Post-Production 2020

Idriss Koné, aka Birco Clinton, lives in an asbestos container in the eastern suburbs of Naples and has a dream: to become the king of the coupé décalé music in Europe. To be able to succeed he has created L’Armée Rouge, a band of boys from the Ivory Coast that supports him.

- Year of production
- 2020
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- ITALY
- Languages
- FRENCH, BAMBARA
- Budget
- 0 - 0.3 M$
- Duration
- 58 mn
- Director(s)
- Luca CIRIELLO
- Cast
- Idris KONÉ
- Producer(s)
- Antonella DI NOCERA (Parallelo 41)
- Synopsis
- L’Armée Rouge is the story of a boy who wants to become the king of the Coupé Décalé in Europe and to do so he has created a group of “fighters of the show”. Arriving by sea from the Ivory Coast in 2014, his name is Idriss Koné, but everyone knows him as Birco Clinton. The film is set in two districts of Naples. Birco Clinton lives in one of Ponticelli's “Bipiani”, asbestos prefabs built in the 1980, while most of his time is spent in Vasto, the multicultural neighborhood near the Central Station. To realize his dream Birco has devised a self-organized structure, "L'Armée Rouge”.
  The movie talks about the organization of the annual party called dédicace. The lexicon used in the preparation of the great party, the sweatshirts all the same as they were uniforms, the continuous telephone calls that Birco receives, the military roles within the band carry us into the film, giving the organization of the dédicace a mysterious halo. Several times Birco calls his "soldiers" for the "final duel" and tells us that "it will not be a joke". At the dédicace there will be the best African dancers from all over Naples.
  Birco, with his self-centered and sometimes clumsy way of doing things, manages to convince his friends to support him and the coupé décalé, the music style born in opposition to the regime's music spread in Ivory Coast. “You have to be numerous and fast, like the Soviet Red Army" says Birco. During the holidays people donate money to those who organized the parties during the boucan ceremony, as a sign of respect. Within its mutualistic structure, the money received is put back into circulation at the following holidays. "What matters is the family, what gives you a living is the work", says Birco.