Sam Was Here, also known as "Nemesis", is a bizarre horror thriller movie directed by Christophe Deroo.
Sam is a traveling salesman that attempts to find customers in a small town in the middle of the desert. However, he starts being chased by the people there when he's mistaken(?) with a child murdered that the city wants dead, while they're all lead and inflamed by a sensationalist radio host named Eddy.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Everything, basically. The movie is pretty open about what exactly is happening and may be as much of a metaphor as it is a story.
- It's never explained what exactly is the red light in the sky, which is seem all the time, so it can be anything.
- Big Bad: Eddy, the town's radio host, is the one leading and inflaming the masses in order for them to rally against Sam.
- Dead All Along: One interpretation of the story is that Sam did in fact die 5 years before the story takes place and is now in hell, paying for his crimes.
- The Hero Dies: In the end, Sam is doused in acid and burned by the townspeople. If he was indeed dead, it's hinted that he killed himself after committing a crime.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is the city where Sam is an Ironic Hell where he's being punished for his actions in life or is it a normal city being led by a man that is blaming Sam for a random crime.
- Mythical Motifs: Like its alternative name, there is a lot of references to the goddess Nemesis of the Greek myths. Nemesis is sometimes referred as the evil sister of the sun in the myths, which would explain the red, ominous light in the sky, and if Sam truly is guilty, then him being tortured would befit the kind of thing that the goddess would do.
- Villain Protagonist: There is a chance that Sam is, indeed, the child murderer and pedophile that killed a child, possibly his own daughter, that the city is chasing.
