Les Misérables

This movie deserves a round of applause for tackling such a big issue as the misery and social and ethnical diversity in the treacherous suburbs of France with neutrality, intensity and emotions. The fact Ladj Ly (the director) does that with a refine style and a cautious but reasonable neutrality makes this film even greater.

This film is a shock, a love at first sight and the well deserved heir of the masterpiece La Haine shot in 1995.

It may lack a bit of laughters, a bit of moral to the story, but it's a great great discovery.

The story focuses on Stéphane, a cop who recently joined an anti-crime brigade of a town next to Paris called Montfermeil. Stephane quickly discovers the tensions between the different ethnical and social groups of the neighbourhood . He also discovers the curious methods of his team mates that he disapproves in the first place. During an arrest, one of them gets overwhelmed by the events and made a terrible blunder but a drone has filmed all the scene - they must find that drone at all cost.

Beyond the police blunder, it's a denonciation of several misconducts in those areas and the complete state of neglect that all inhabitants suffer from that is tackled in this film.

The movie is in fact a real whistle blower of a latent conflict. A bit of a bolt out of the blue. In short: a warning cry.

Don't get it wrong. The film does not call for civil war. It's just a depiction of what happens every day in some cities of France.

The Victor Hugo's reference is just a wink, a little tribute as Monfermeil (the city where the story takes place) is also where the Thenardier family in Les Misérables (the book) lives. The movie is more about what the word "Les Misérables"' means than about the story of the book. The film focuses on the miserable people living , working, growing in Montfermeil, their interractions and conflicts in those abandoned lands of the French republic. The director wanted to send a message to the authorities and make them realize what are the feelings of the people living there who had been left in the lurch after so many political promises and this for so many years.

The fact that the director tackles this issue through the policemen' eyes is daring and intelligent since we quickly realize that the policemen are part of these miserable people.

Right after the blunder, starts on a vicious circle which leads to the final phrase of Victor Hugo himself: there is no bad seeds, or bad men but just bad growers.

In terms of rythm, intensity and style the film is a great success . You never lose the tension, you never want to take sides but you want to know where and how it will end up even if you presume it will end up badly. The amateur actors and profesional actors are all of them very genuine especially the bad and the good cop.. I highly recommend it. It's a great film and a fantastic suprise in the French film panorama.