If you say that you have seen any police officer more corrupt than Francois Sentinelle, you have definitely not met him yet. Hugo Benamozig and David Caviglioli bring the comedy-action film Sentinelle, which sometimes gives you the ‘Johnny English’ touch. Captain Francois Sentinelle (Jonathan Cohen) is more famous for his ‘unbearable’ singing in Reunion Island than for being a cop. One of the opinions about the film says this should have been a police thriller rather than a silly comedy. But it is okay to laugh a little when you have a guy like Sentinelle in your film. Spoilers Ahead!
Sentinelle (2023) Movie Synopsis & Plot Summary:
The film starts with a scene where Sentinelle’s partner, Morisset, is chasing a homicide criminal. Morisset gives Sentinelle the road names and locations while Sentinelle loses track of everything. He is going round and round, missing every meeting point that Morisset is telling him. Morisset is shot in his leg when Sentinelle, after all the trouble, tells him to forget about the criminal and go home. Soon, we see the criminal accidentally get hit by Sentinelle’s car, and he arrests him. He doesn’t put him behind bars since his director calls him for the music video he is shooting. In fact, he even gives a role to the criminal, and this ends up badly for Sentinelle.
The criminal threatens to kill the heroine and then runs away. Sentinelle shoots at him, but sadly, three random people get shot. No bullet touches the criminal as he successfully runs away. Later, he is called to President Florence’s house. She has some troubling news to share with him before the election starts. Her opponent, Chakravarty, has all the chances in the world to beat her in this year’s election due to the history of corruption and slavery in her family. A video message has come in where a group named ‘Red Arm’ is threatening to kill her. Now, Florence wants Sentinelle to investigate this matter as a priority.
Does Red Arm actually exist?
Morisset suggests Sentinelle go and meet Amandine, who has professional knowledge about this group, to follow up on what this’ Red Arm’ is. There, they learn from Amandine that the Red Arm is a myth. Nothing ever existed by this name. It is a story created long ago that some slaves got away from the clutches of the white people and made their own group to kill the white people in town.
But, the most intriguing part of this whole conversation is that the ‘Red Arm’ is threatening Florence, who belongs to the Cazeaux lineage. Amandine tells them that in several versions of the ‘Red Arm’ story, most of these slaves belong to the Cazeaux plantations. Everyone knows that Florence’s family has made their fortune from sugar and slavery. So, there is a great point to take revenge on Florence, which Morisset tries to tell Sentinelle. But, as always, he is more focused on his album release than the case itself.
Whom does the ‘Red Arm’ kidnap?
The ‘Red Arm’ attacks Florence’s house one day, injuring one of her maids. Florence’s husband, Valery, hides himself inside the closet and tries to reach out by calling Sentinelle. Meanwhile, Sentinelle is in talks with his producer, who is using a puppet to say that he is not going to produce his songs anymore. Sentinelle is furious about this decision and rejects Valery’s calls.
The ‘Red Arm’ kidnaps Valery, and now Sentinelle gets good advice from his colleague, Morisset. He tells Sentinelle, who is crying because his album will not be released, to get hold of himself. Furthermore, he tells him that people must know that he is a good cop, and then he can shift his focus to something less important, like his music. Sentinelle subsequently starts investigating the matter. Right at that moment, Amandine comes to the police station and tells that the President’s secretary, Hoarau, has come for Sentinelle and Morisset to inquire about the Red Arm.
Sentinelle calls the President and warns him about Hoarau. Later that night, Sentinelle and Morisset wait outside Hoarau’s house so that he cannot escape. When Morisset goes for a walk, Sentinelle takes out his musical instruments and starts singing inside the car. Two members of the Red Arm take advantage of that situation and go inside the house to kill Hoarau. Hoarau used to be a soldier, so he almost kills the two men, but unfortunately, one of those men stabs him in his throat.
Meanwhile, Maousse relieves Sentinelle from his duty and takes over the shift. The following morning, Sentinelle comes to the place and finds out that Hoarau and the two men who came to kill him are lying dead. Sentinelle thinks that all this happened during Maousse’s shift, and he screams at him. On the other hand, Florence shouts at Sentinelle, and after a lot of shouting, the first plot twist arrives.
What is President Florence’s Role in all this?
Previously, we see Hoarau meeting with a guy named Sorcier and giving him a new set of handsets. Hoarau also asks him whether he has got rid of the previous handsets. Now, after Hoarau’s death, we see Florence meeting with Sorcier. Florence tells her that the men he sent to kill Hoarau are dead there. Sorcier then tells her to take her husband back, as he doesn’t want to get involved in anything. It is Florence who created the Red Arm thing and kidnaps her own husband before the election so that she can win the election with sympathy voting. The polls are indeed up again since the kidnapping, putting her ahead of her opponent, Chakravarty.
Hoarau was one of the men who knew everything from the beginning, and since Sentinelle finds out something fishy about Hoarau, Florence decides to kill him. She asks Sorcier to ensure the handsets are destroyed and nothing can be traced back to them. Meanwhile, Morisset and Sentinelle find the location of one of the Red Arm members and go there to inspect the place. There, they confront Rayane, one of Sorcier’s men. Rayane successfully runs away from them. However, they seize Rayane’s phone. Through this, they come to meet with Sorcier. Seeing Sentinelle within touching distance, Sorcier calls Florence to report to her about the situation.
Sentinelle (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
What happens to Sentinelle in the end?
Florence wins the election, and after talking to Sorcier, she feels the necessity of distracting Sentinelle from all of this. She puts him in the case, knowing that he will never be able to solve the case. His track record speaks for itself. But, since Sentinelle is getting somewhere, she decides to meet with the music producer and threatens him to launch the album no matter what. The producer then goes to Sentinelle and tells him that he is ready to launch the album.
Florence knows that if Sentinelle is back with his music again, they can easily close up the mess, and everything will be forgotten. However, seeing Sorcier perform that night when Sentinelle first meets him, he becomes a fan. He talks to his producer about bringing him on board. The producer agrees to do a feature of them both in a song. He asks Sentinelle to go and talk to this Sorcier guy so that they can make some music together. Sentinelle is so happy about this, and he forgets about the case. Morisset, on the other hand, almost draws the conclusion that Florence is behind everything.
Seeing Sentinelle again getting distracted from the case, Morisset loses his patience and tells him that he has been a bad cop throughout his career. Sentinelle fires him and asks Maousse to find Sorcier’s location. When Sentinelle visits Sorcier’s place, he finds traces of blood that he follows. Later, he finds out that both Sorcier and Rayane are lying dead. He calls Morisset. But by that time, Morisset goes to the Internal Affairs department and tells them everything about the corruption and incapabilities of Sentinelle.
Later, we see a confrontation between Florence and Sentinelle. It is Florence who kills Sorcier and Rayane, and before she can leave, Sentinelle arrives. The only way to get out of there is to kill Sentinelle. Sentinelle somehow manages to set Florence on fire and run away. He finds Valery tied up in a corner of Sorcier’s compound. Florence has a little life left within her, and she is about to shoot Sentinelle when Morisset arrives at the spot. He shoots Florence, and she dies.
The Internal Affairs arrests Sentinelle for all the wrongdoings throughout his career. At the end of the film, we see Morisset take over the Captain position that once belonged to Sentinelle. He even marries Amandine and now visits Sentinelle’s place. There, he sees that Sentinelle opens up a private investigation agency behind a bar. Even his bartenders have guns on them. Sentinelle proudly calls them the bartender-detectives.
Morisset finally tries to listen to the song that made Sentinelle so popular. It is the ‘Kiki’ song. As it turns out, the song is so pathetic that Morisset fails to see even a whole minute of the video. Sentinelle might not be great at being a cop or a musician, but people genuinely like having him around. Sometimes, there’s just something special about someone, even if they’re not outstanding at anything specific. Sentinelle is that kind of person.
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