Latest news with #murder investigation
SBS Australia
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Past and present crimes unfold in scorching drama 'The Embers'
Despite the name – which might suggest a slowly unfolding drama about events after the heat is over, after the big action is done – The Embers starts with a rapidly escalating scene in a hospital that will have you sitting bolt upright, shocked, pulse racing. It's not surprising then, to see Stéphane Demoustier ( L'Opera , The Girl with a Bracelet ), director of the first four episodes of this eight-part French series (Farid Bentoumi directs the final four), describe it as 'an utterly scorching thriller'. In 1995, Lidia Achour (Mouna Soualem, The Night of the 12 , You Resemble Me ), a young member of an anti-terrorism squad, is sent to the town of Péranne after the brutal murder of an imam. Also on the case is local gendarme Jean Benefro (Olivier Rabourdin, Taken , Benedetta ), a man scarred by his memories of the Algerian War. Almost 30 years later, Achour is drawn back to Péranne after another shocking murder there, and the disappearance of her former partner – now a suspect in the investigation led by Adrien Caron (Denis Eyriey, Sambre:Anatomy of a Crime ), the town's newly-appointed police lieutenant. Lidia (Mouna Soualem) returns to Péranne. Credit: Ulrich Lebeuf / Mintee Studio / CANAL+ Shocking murders aren't unusual in a crime drama. Nor is The Embers' dual timeline. But the setting is less common. It's neither a big-city police beat nor a chilly Noirish village. Instead, it's a fictional town on the edge of the French Riviera – a deliberate choice by the creative team. 'For this portrait of current-day France, we focused on a region that is seldom featured in fiction but is nonetheless omnipresent in our post-industrial societies. It is a France of roads and roundabouts, where industrial zones bleed into business districts, into rows of detached housing, and on and on in a stark yet grandiose sprawl. This is what gave rise to Péranne, our fictional town located somewhere in the Marseille suburbs, but far from the rocky creeks of the calanques or the city's disadvantaged northern projects,' says Thibault Vanhulle, series co-creator and co-writer, along with Thomas Bedegain. Demoustier describes the setting as 'a territory of trouble and passion alike … Choosing this territory as a living, evocative, deeply complex backdrop has been our way to provide space for stories that have been unfairly overlooked and listen to voices that are too often unheard.' Jean (Olivier Rabourdin). Credit: Ulrich Lebeuf / Mintee Studio / CANAL+ The Embers is in many ways about how we carry the scars of our past. Benefro is haunted by his memories of war. Achour has regrets about the events of 1995. Caron is a man of deep integrity but burdened by awful experiences. Marwan Oufella (Idir Azougli) lost his mother in an arson attack as a young boy and was raised by a racist, violent criminal. Years later, his paths cross with Caron and Achour in Péranne. Mehdi Meraouiis (Kamel Mahjoubi) is man trying to rebuild his life, but he, too, is caught up in current-day series of murders. The series also asks, does the passage of time fulfil hopes or dash them? The team wanted 'to spark a dialog between two eras,' says Vanhulle. 'Back in 1995, France's multiculturalism was described as black-blanc-beur ('Black-White-Arab'), a pun on the colors of the national flag. The Soviet Union had recently collapsed, and it was said that we were witnessing the end of history; that digital technology would replace our perishing industries; that the riches of globalisation would be distributed equally; that we would become interconnected, global citizens of a multiethnic, multicultural society; that permanent world peace was on the horizon. Perhaps it was the promises of this era that we wanted to weigh up against our current reality. What exactly happened over those three decades? "This is what inspired the French title of our series: Cimetière Indien ('Indian Cemetery'), based on the way Native American burial grounds were expropriated and desecrated in the quest to build the North America of today. 'The Indian cemetery is history repressed. It is the ghosts that we thought had long been banished for good. But ghosts cannot die; they just keep haunting us. Sometimes they resurface, ready to settle their score with the living.' This article includes edited extracts of material supplied by Mintee Productions / CANAL+. The Embers is streaming at SBS On Demand.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Untamed': Eric Bana needed the confidence to be 'quite rude' in Netflix thriller
In another show that showcases British Columbia's breathtaking landscape, Eric Bana stars in the new Netflix series Untamed, a dark thriller centred around a murder investigation in the wilderness of Yosemite National Park. Also starring Rosemarie DeWitt, Lily Santiago and Sam Neill, Bana plays an Investigative Services Branch agent of the National Parks Service, Kyle Turner, who's trying to catch a murderer. But for Kyle, his past ends up playing a bigger role in his investigation than he anticipated. As each of the six episodes unfold, more secrets around Kyle's life, and the murder case, are revealed. For Bana, a core element of playing Kyle was allowing himself to be "quite rude" as the character. "Early on, especially in the first episode or two episodes, it's just having the confidence to actually be quite rude," Bana said. "He's going to be quite bristly and quite a grisly character until we really get to know him more." "So I really just immersed myself into the writing and just kind of committed to the gruffness that he has, especially initially with Lily's character, and knowing that eventually there's a softness there that will play out." 'Beautifully written' relationships While there are a lot of twists and turns in Untamed, a highlight is absolutely the relationship Kyle has with his ex-wife Jill Bodwin, played by Rosemarie DeWitt. This isn't your typical tension where one ex-partner moves on and gets remarried, Jill and Kyle suffered an incredibly traumatic experience together before their divorce, which has created this lasting link between them. "I was thrilled when Rosemarie agreed to play Jill. I thought those scenes were really beautifully written," Bana told Yahoo Canada. "Obviously, they're sharing something, which gets revealed to the audience at some stages, which really affects their dynamic, but ... I hadn't really seen that kind of relationship before on screen. And so it was a real thrill to read that and to think that there was something different in the way that you'd be able to play an ex-husband and an ex-wife." Kyle isn't investigating this murder alone, he's joined by Naya Vasquez, played by Lily Santiago, a cop who just moved from Los Angeles with her four-year-old son. Bana stressed that establishing the nuances in Lyle and Naya's relationship was critical for the show. "We were really careful with the casting of that, we wanted that to be, not equals, because he's so much more senior to her, but that they would become equals in terms of the way that they try and go about solving this crime," Bana said. "But there had be this kind of paternal quality in both directions." "I feel like in some ways, she's almost kind of mothering him. ... So the casting of that was really important and Lily's ability to come in and just kind of go toe-to-toe with with Kyle was really wonderful." B.C. landscape was 'hugely important' Bana, who's also an executive producer on the show, stressed that filming in B.C. was a crucial component of making this show right. "I'd spent time in your beautiful part of the world in winters, but not in summer," Bana told Yahoo Canada. "So to get a chance to set the show there cinematically, and to get the scope and everything, was just incredible." "It was a hugely important element in the show. We felt like the character of Yosemite National Park, and the role that nature plays, is one of the characters in the show. So we were thrilled to film there."
New York Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Huckabee Calls Death of Palestinian-American in West Bank ‘Terrorism'
The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Tuesday called on the Israeli authorities to 'aggressively investigate' the death of a 20-year-old Palestinian-American citizen in a clash on Friday with Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, calling his killing a 'murder' and a 'criminal and terrorist act.' Mr. Huckabee, who has been vocal about his support for settlement in the occupied West Bank — which is widely viewed as illegal in the international community — used uncharacteristically strong language in his statement condemning the death of Sayfollah Musallet, a young Floridian who had been visiting his family in the area. 'There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,' Mr. Huckabee said. The ambassador's demand comes amid a rise in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank during the war with Hamas in Gaza. Mr. Musallet was one of two Palestinian men who died in the violence near the northern West Bank town of Sinjil on Friday. The other, Mohammad Shalabi, 23, was shot during a confrontation between settlers and Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, though it was not clear who had shot him as armed settlers and soldiers had both been present on the scene. The Israeli military has neither confirmed nor denied the two deaths, saying only that there had been a violent exchange between Palestinians and Israeli civilians near Sinjil, and that the domestic intelligence agency and police were looking into reported casualties. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has confirmed Mr. Musallet's death, as well as his American citizenship. Exactly how Friday's clash unfolded is unclear. The Israeli military has said that confrontations began when Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli civilians, slightly injuring two Israelis. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
