Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Kery James and Leïla Sy, ‘Street Flow 3,’ also known as ‘Banlieusards 3,’ marks the third chapter in the story of the Traoré brothers, with Demba, Soulaymaan, and Noumouké all stepping into new avenues in life. While Demba appears to have fully left his darker lifestyle behind, his younger brothers do their best to stay afloat in a competitive world, be it in the legal or artistic realms. However, trouble arises when Noumouké’s career in music begins to blend in with a life of crime, threatening to restart a cycle Demba went through hell and back to finish.
Demba realizes too late that the past cannot simply be washed away, and when everything flows back in his direction, he has no choice but to reflect and reconstruct. Meanwhile, Soulaymaan finds himself embroiled in a political conspiracy, which surprisingly offers him a chance to reignite his love life. By the end of this crime drama movie, all three storylines end up intertwining once again, reflecting a future that is both shared between the brothers and distinct for each one of them. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Street Flow 3 Plot Synopsis
‘Street Flow 3’ begins right after the cliffhanger ending of the previous movie, revealing that Demba managed to survive the gunshot and now leads a peaceful life with his family. What’s more, he appears to have found love in his time with Djenaba, and the couple decides to get married. We also learn that Soulaymaan is now a topshot lawyer, targeting meaningful cases only, as per his mother’s advice. Only Noumouké appears to be somewhat stuck in time, as his rap career is yet to take off. Instead, he became a figure of ridicule for the family, except for a single artist named 9 millimeter, who wishes to collaborate with him. However, the members of the NMK each have a different perspective on what the future of the trio looks like, resulting in more chaos.
Meanwhile, Demba hears that the police are still looking into him, years after he has left behind his criminal lifestyle, and soon enough, his house is raided. Demba is arrested for tax evasion and put into prison, but Soulaymaan chooses not to represent his own brother and instead hires a lawyer who is implied to be corrupt and/or careless. As Demba spends his days in prison, the family begins to slowly fall apart, prompting Noumouké to take a stand and enter the criminal gang that his brother was once a part of. Together with Lamine, he steadily amasses a fortune, all the while building a niche internet following through his disses of 9 millimeter, as well as his chaotic persona.
Things go wrong for Noumouké and Lamine when a hit-and-run case in their hood leads to the death of Lamine’s little brother, Kattri. Enraged, Lamine causes a riot in the city, destroying not just the mayor’s office in protest, but also causing damage to the office of Swouil Ben Saada, who is running for mayor. We learn that Swouil is being represented by Soulaymaan in a case, with none other than Lisa on the opposition. Despite facing stiff competition, Soulaymaan manages to win at the trials and later decides to join Swouil’s campaign by standing for deputy mayor. Around the same time, he figures out a legal loophole that gets Demba out quickly, but the latter decides to join an armed extraction team to help his friend escape prison. However, this ends up triggering a chain of events that alters the brothers’ lives forever.
Street Flow 3 Ending: Is Noumouké Leaving His Brothers? Why?
‘Street Flow 3’ ends with an unlikely metamorphosis for all three of the Traoré brothers, culminating in Noumouké choosing to leave his family’s house and start life anew. For him, this move is not as much a rebellion against his brothers as it is a lesson learnt from their pasts and presents. Both Demba and Soulaymaan choose to lead their lives in their own ways, embracing all the ebbs and flows that come along. Following in their footsteps, Noumouké chooses to leave his sheltered lifestyle behind and start on a path that lies somewhere between Demba and Soulaymaan’s. While the ending doesn’t confirm whether he will be successful in life, his entire journey across three films inspires enough confidence.
Throughout the movie, Noumouké’s obsession with hip hop dominates much of his character arc. While he is met with initial success, the teen is soon introduced to the shady, predatory side of this world’s rap industry. Before long, he is swept into a system that engineers and fosters violence, and we see firsthand how ghastly the consequences of it can be. As such, Noumouké’s final choice is not to abandon rap itself, but the gang culture he began associating himself with. Instead, we see the young prodigy mint new lyrics and beats right up to the final moments of the movie, showing that his art is finally evolving. Earlier, Soulaymaan draws references to Malcolm X, asserting that the revolutionary leader knew how to use words with weight, and it appears that Noumouké is ready to make a conscious effort in the same direction.
A big motif throughout the movie is that of the house, specifically in how Soulaymaan describes every nook and cranny as reminiscent of Khadijah. That very idea is interpreted by Noumouké as he believes that moving on from the trauma of losing their mother is key for the brothers to evolve. For him, the house serves as a reminder of how he has led a privileged life, guided by his brothers as well as his mother at every turn. With such a luxury no longer available, it is up to Noumouké to carve his own trajectory and succeed or fail in accordance with that. The first step in this is to move out of his house and start from scratch, and Soulaymaan understands that, which is why he bids his brother goodbye with a smile and a greater sense of respect.
Who Killed Lamine? Is Sofia Alive?
The movie’s ending also confirms that Sofia makes it out alive after being shot by one of Sofyan’s men. While we are initially led to believe that the turf war will result in either Noumouké or his brothers getting shot, reality turns out to be far different. However, a case can be made for the shooter simply missing his target and hitting Sofia instead, considering how she can be seen hugging Noumouké during the incident. With Sofia hospitalized in critical condition, Noumouké essentially gets a reality check, realizing that it is not just his life that is in danger, but also his loved ones’. Often, this includes people like Sofia, Soulaymaan, or even little Kattri, who are completely uninvolved in these gang wars, and yet that means little in the face of unbridled violence and chaos. The fact that Sofia manages to survive gives both her and Noumouké a second chance to mend their ways and leave this life behind.
Sofia’s close call with death is not the only event that shakes up Noumouké’s life, as we also see Lamine lose his life to the gang wars. Importantly, his death happens right in front of Noumouké’s eyes, mere moments into the duo’s first conversation in months. While we never see Lamine’s dead body after that first shot, the fact that Noumouké uses the past tense while narrating his friend’s life all but confirms that Lamine is gone. And even though we see the shooter’s face, their identity is never revealed outright. Instead, the movie draws attention to the fact that the shooter was in tears while killing Lamine. This detail can be interpreted as the killer being an involuntary part of the same cycle that Lamine and Noumouké are trapped in. In the end, this is nothing but a tragic tale of children killing children, and Noumouké realizes that the only way to prevent something like this from repeating is by revolutionizing the system from the inside out.
Where is Demba Now? Does He Become a Criminal Again?
One mystery left largely unanswered in the ending is the fate of Demba. The last we see of him, it is implied that Demba has fully returned to a life of crime and is currently on the run from the police. While that may be true on the surface, the reality of his life reveals a far more tragic picture. To begin with, Demba is imprisoned years after abandoning the criminal world, and even though he tries his best to shake off that violent past and settle back into his new lifestyle, things prove to be far more challenging. Every attempt Demba makes at freeing himself from his dark legacy only ends with him being sucked deeper in, and this is where the ending leads us. Despite having millions in cash, Demba is forced to take up arms again to protect his cousin, Doums, from a gang exchange gone wrong. It is during this exchange that Demba is noticed by the police and falsely accused of being a perpetrator.
Demba’s case is made more difficult by the fact that he is caught while engaged in a shootout. As such, even his friends in the police have no choice but to consider him a criminal. However, with the eldest Traoré brother managing to escape in the nick of time, this exchange now more resembles a never-ending cat-and-mouse chase. While Demba may be out of the police’s reach for now, that also means that he is no longer able to be a part of the family. The movie symbolically conveys this in how he is unable to find the courage to hold his own infant daughter, Khadijah. The fact that she is named after Demba’s mother also ties into this, as the scene can be interpreted as him failing his mother in spirit. As such, Demba’s attempts to break free of his crime without punishment lead him right back into the cycle, perhaps deeper than ever before.
Does Soulaymaan Become the Deputy Mayor? Do He and Lisa End up Together?
Unlike Demba, who is pulled deeper into the darkness, Soulaymaan makes a major turn in the right direction by winning the local elections and becoming deputy mayor. Now, as one of the most powerful people in town, he has the ability, as well as the means, to push for all the changes he has wished upon the town. Once again, his victory points back to the motif of Malcolm X’s story, showing how both Soulaymaan and Noumouké have imbibed different values from the same work of art. Additionally, this also means a victory for Soulaymaan on the lawyer front, as it is only because of his success earlier that Swouil enjoys enough popularity to emerge as the town’s mayor.
For Soulaymaan, winning the post of deputy mayor is not just a social transformation, but also an internal one. In effect, it means bidding his simple lifestyle as an attorney goodbye and starting a new life marked by the spotlight, public appearances, and the pressure that comes along with it. However, amidst all of that, he realizes that the thing he truly needs in life is second chances. While Demba and Noumouké’s stories explicitly revolve around them learning from their mistakes and turning over a new leaf, such an arc does not exist for Soulaymaan, given his affinity for a by-the-books lifestyle from the get-go. However, by the end of the movie, he realizes his mistake of leaving Lisa alone on this journey. To that end, he makes a second attempt at reaching out to Lisa, hoping to follow in his brothers’ footsteps and lead the kind of life he truly desires, together with people he wants to share it with.
