Les Miserables, written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti, directed by the former - 10 out of 10

Les Miserables, written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti, directed by the former

10 out of 10

As the winner of The Jury Prize at the most important –at least for this cinephile – cinematic competition in the world, the Cannes Film Festival of 2019 – it looks like there may not be one this year – we can see Les Miserables as the second best motion picture of the year, in a race dominated by the fantastic Parasite, the film that has won almost everything across the board, from the Palme d’Or to the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture (and the one in Foreign Language too)- http://realini.blogspot.com/2019/08/parasite-written-by-jin-won-han-and.html

This is a phenomenal, outstanding achievement, challenging on so many levels – let us start with…the ending, which is so puzzling and difficult to decipher…what do you think will happen after the last shot by the way, for there seem to be quite a few possibilities – for one is evidently tempted to take sides with Les Miserables aka the miserable, mostly young people who live in the ‘banlieues’ where poverty and alienation seem to be dominant and they result in rebellion, protests and violent incidents, mentioned in the film, with reference to revolts in which arson was the order of the day, a multitude of cars have been burnt, many millions have damage have been reported and injuries inflicted, but as the ‘good cop’ of this story, Brigadier Stephane Ruiz ‘Pento’ aka excellent Damien Bonnard, states when speaking with one of the reformed characters, Salah, it has brought no good for the community, mainly because ‘on s’en fout’ aka nobody cares…

Brigadier Ruiz, who might have a passing resemblance with the much more famous Jean Valjean, moves to Paris to be able to see his son, separated as he is from the wife that had already moved to the capital, and he joins this team of the Anti-Crime Brigade, where Chris is the leader and Gwada the other team mate, and he is given a tour of the community, mocked on ‘the engine oil’ he  might be using for his hair, on one occasion he is sent into a shaorma joint to ask about the missing lion cub, only to be left there in an embarrassing situation, meant to bring joy to his new comrades, who prove very soon to be very complicated human beings, for although we soon see Chris talking to the local ring leader Le Mair aka The Mayor about a special gift for his wife, this viewer is still in disbelief as to how earthlings could resist the pressure, the torment, the abuse, torture suffered by officers in the line of fire in these places…

Evidently, Les Miserables appear to have the worst possible life, plagued by poverty, abuse, living in crowded, squalid buildings – a most recent article in The Economist mentions the fact that the well-off have had the means to escape quarantine in the worst affected places, while those who have to stay inside, together with so many others, would face grave challenges and consequences – and as it appears in this vast fresco, which looks at so many elements of this huge puzzle, they have adversity on all sides: Le Mair is a corrupt individual that supervises much of the illegal activity in his domain, from the selling of counterfeit merchandise – which the Brigade knows and does nothing about, except get something original in exchange for closing the eyes – and there is another pressure, from a group that gets severely punished at some stage, for it seems only interested in getting profits, even if that means covering for and collaborating with the police, that is one of the harassing, tormenting and torturing elements in this explosive mix

Before the level of tension starts ascending dramatically, we have indications that this is a team that faces constant pressure and as a result, due probably in equal part to personal flaws and shortcomings, they behave violently, especially Chris, who sees a few girls in a bus station and because he suspects - perhaps he knows, for even if he is abusive, he has acquired an impressive experience and has developed special skills – for instance, when the lion cub disappears and is about to cause a tragedy, he looks on the social networks, aware that these individuals would boast there about their exploits – that they are smoking marijuana and he speaks with vileness and even smashes the phone of one girl who is only 15, after harassing and bullying her and the others present in the station…

The lion cub belongs to a circus and Salah is right when he points out that lions do not belong in circuses – which is indeed illegal now in most of the civilized world – though he uses an argument from the Koran – now here is one of the few things we would like about this and other religious texts – and he has been stolen by a rebellious child, Issa, and this is on the point of creating a massive clash between the inhabitants of the ‘banlieue’ , under the corrupt leadership of Le Mair and the ‘gitanes’, those who control the circus and who are ready for a bloody battle, for which they have brought many hoodlums, armed with hatchets and many other weapons…they are separated by the three members of the brigade, who start investigating to see where the ‘mini-lion’ is, to return it and avoid the huge clash.

Alas, when they do find Issa, after seeing him photographed and then posted on the internet, the police officers lose control of the operation, as they try to immobilize the boy, they are faced with the opposition of his comrades and though perhaps most under the age of ten, their sheer numbers threaten to overwhelm the three adults, a chase ensues and when finally they catch up with the running boy, who is maybe eight or ten, they are again surrounded by the others, maybe over twenty or thirty, and those agitated children throw cans, stones and whatever they find at the reviled police…they are at least in part responsible for the fact that the brigadier of African origin, Gwada – Djebril Zonga is formidable in role and the fact that it is the minority officer who is most to blame is again very poignant – shoots his weapon.

Issa is badly hit in the face and it is clear that this will be a massive scar for the rest of his life, both physical and perhaps much more serious, psychological, though he will survive, for this is not a deadly weapon in normal conditions – though it can be from very close and this was very near – it is as grave a mistake as can be, ever more serious if we consider that the pistol has a safety and cannot be released by accident, as Ruiz would make clear when he confronts Gwada with the gravity of what he had done…to which the man of African descent replies that he had been under fire for ten years, patrolling in this section is hell, at night they have to dress like Rambo, fro there is no other way to survive in this jungle…and it sounds about right, though he admits to have snapped, lost a cable inside and blew it…

This stupendous motion picture raises so many questions, such as what happens at the end, or better said after the ambiguous, thought provoking end, what is the solution, for it seems that Les Miserables are entitled, justified to revolt – though for me, it is clear that they went too far and if they keep it this way, it would be ever harder to gain sympathy – and on the other hand, Gwada and the other brigadiers can only be expected to snap, working in a war zone, having to face battle scenes on a regular basis…