A good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it did win the César of the Best movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be some kind of French version of ‘Training Day’, except that everything that happened during this first work day didn’t seem to be so far-fetched after all (ok, except maybe for this lion cub lost in a French ghetto…). Eventually, it was probably one of the greatest assets in this movie, this realistic approach and the fact that the makers always remained neutral. Indeed, depending on where you stand, you might think Chris is awful but, most of the time, he did seem to be a decent cop delivering a solid job (he still did some sketchy stuff though). What stroke me was the fact that, even though all these different groups (the parents, the children, the cops, the mayor, the drug dealers,…) all did scream and fight with each other, they were actually all completely powerless to improve their own situation and/or the situation of anyone else in this environment. Eventually, they were all functioning on a survival mode looking only for their own best interest. Concerning the actors involved, they did deliver some solid performances but, to be honest, they were all lacking some charisma though but that’s usually the issue when you go for some super realistic characters. Furthermore, even if I really did appreciate their approach, the content was nothing really groundbreaking after all. However, it all changed with the chaotic, even anarchist, final act. Indeed, at this point, the whole thing took a drastic left turn but the end-result was quite spellbinding to behold. Eventually, outside of France, a lot of people are wondering why the French youth goes on a regular basis on such rampage, burning cars and what not, and I think this movie finally gave a pretty good idea about what the background and context could be behind such events. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was a really solid and realistic drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.