Monsieur Chocolat

Certain things may seem ... strange to say the least. Like how people of color were treated. Not just in America mind you. And this movie showcases just that. Omar Sy is very well known for another comedy, but as with that other movie, there are underlying social and ethical questions here.

I personally never was too much of a fan of laughing at other peoples pain. That is if we are talking about real pain. Or dignity - if someone trips it is embarassing, because most will laugh as a first reaction instead of worry if something happened or what made the person trip. In comedy that is used to their advantage - as is the case here, where we laugh with the silliness but also the "pain" of the characters displayed.

But what we see on the surface is just that: it is on the surface! Because there is a lot more to be seen here. As a character piece this is quite incredible and really well thought of and played. It is not just fun and games though as you can imagine ... and all that in the face of that or similar things actually being true (as in they happened) ...

First impression - one of many biographical films about well ignored cultural personalities. A sort of rehabilitation.

At the second view - the strange feeling about the resemblance of James Thierree and his grandfather.

Not the last - the fascination. About the performance of Omar Sy. About so familiar slices of racism and for the seductive way to tell a story about glory and about succes, about its high price and about acceptance, about love and fall . And, sure, about friendship.

Sure, it is not fundamental different by many other films about same theme. Its virtue- to be a film "with soul". And well acted. And wise mix of humor and bitterness.

Monsieur Chocolat takes you on a black man and his clown mentor's journey at the turn of the 20th Century.

Visually sumptuous, the film invites you to suspend your 21st-century habits and venture back into a time when everything was slower. Everything was tougher too though, depending on the cards you had been dealt in life.

If you allow yourself to enter this sometimes magical and sometimes scary world, you will be seduced by the rhythm and pace of the story as it unfolds and moved by the resilience of the human spirit.

The hard and soft edges of humanity stay with you long after you leave the cinema.

I watch this movie in the last week in a cinema festival in my city called "Festival of Cinema Francês Varilux". The reasons who motivated me to see this movie was the circus theme, which pleases quite my particular taste, and I not regretted it one bit having assisted. The story based on real events was very well represented by their respective actors, and shows a clear way the difficulties and prejudices suffering black people in society in general during the nineteenth century. It's exciting and makes us us to reflect about the life of the clown Chocolat. I really enjoyed, is engaging and exciting. Script, scenery and costumes simply perfect. You feel in time the film is over, the places makes you travel centuries in the past. It seems that every detail has been thought out thoroughly, just impeccable.

The story about an early black clown makes for an interesting tale; the circus setting is always a welcome deviation from our rational world, and there's even some nice acting and good sets here. Somehow it still doesn't add up to an A movie for me, although I'll recommend it at least for a single viewing.

The producers and director showed some balls in keeping this from being either a feelgood movie or a politically correct pamphlet; instead they go for a rather realistic and character-driven angle. The downside to this bold decision is that the movie is not very captivating, simply because the main character is - like most men - a mixed bag at best and a cautionary example of what money can do to people. In fact, this cautionary tale of a man whose very financial success leads to his moral decline is much more in the center of the movie than the racial themes which are dealt with mainly in a five minute detour.