Le jeune Ahmed

Summary

In the current context of the resurgence of neo-fascism and with a World Cup about to be held in a misogynistic and homophobic Islamic theocracy, it is opportune to see the 2018 film in which the Dardenne brothers bravely tackled Muslim youth fundamentalism, establishing a successful cross between the psychology of the solitary leading character, the context in which he moves and certain precepts of Islam, without this being relativized or blurred.

The women act as disturbers, opponents and challengers of Islam's religious and macho misogyny embodied in the impenetrable, resolute, fanatical and tenacious teenager Ahmed, a young out-of-place radical for whom violence ends up being as natural as it is inevitable.

Review

The film follows Ahmed, a Muslim teenager from a Belgian village, who does not hesitate to resort to violence based on his interpretation of the imam's teachings on him and the Koran.

This time the Dardenne brothers face a thorny issue, and they do it frankly and without fear. I say without fear because they do not fear that by addressing the issue of Islamic fundamentalism they will be branded as Islamophobes.

The film rightly establishes a cross between the psychology of the character, the context in which he moves and certain precepts of Islam, but without this being relativized or blurred by the former. They are three dimensions that enhance each other.

There is an inevitable clash (and some irony) between the secularism of the Belgian public school and the objections of some Muslim parents who oppose for religious reasons the proposals of Ahmed's teacher of Arab origin.

An important aspect that went unnoticed by the critics is the centrality in the history of women as threats, opponents and challengers of Islam's religious and sexist misogyny, as representatives of evil that must be avoided, combated and even eliminated. It is the female figures (the mother, the sister, his teacher Inés and another that I will not reveal) who assume the destabilizing role of an Ahmed who combines his fear of female contact with a religious precept that demonizes him, while the Imam Youssuf assumes the role of the absent father, guarantor of the rules, whose teachings the young man combines with those of a religious leader who follows the web.

Another interesting aspect is that The Young Ahmed does not follow the process of religious radicalization of the adolescent, but rather the character is already approached with such a degree of fanaticism that it only remains for him to take him to the field of a violence that is as natural as it is inevitable for him. On the other hand, he is illustrative of how the system faces and seeks to redirect these situations, emphasizing respect and containment.

The Dardenne resort to their usual dry tone, with handheld camera moments that reinforce a realism supported by the presence of actors unknown to the general public. Idir Ben Addi assumes the difficult and at times unpleasant role of an impenetrable, determined, fanatical and tenacious adolescent, with an opacity that sustains an unpredictability that adds elements of a thriller to the psychological and social drama, in a story that is even more disturbing to present to us. To an unincorporated fundamentalist who acts completely on his own.

Even as an agnostic who sees religion very critically, I'm baffled how irresponsibly the producers and directors fuel the fire of bigotry, with such an agenda driven film, in an already toxic political climate. It's rather appalling how the movie tries to intentionally vilify a group of people, by regurgitating the same islamophobic tropes we have been hearing for 20+ years, while failing to maintain any nuance. How can a movie call for open mindedness while being bigoted and close minded itself?

At first I want to establish a few things, first that I'm a Muslim person who live in an Islamic country which is Egypt, the second is that I like The Dardennes' cinematic language and I liked (Deux jours, une nuit) so much.

There is no actual plot, the movie is just going nowhere and doesn't follow the three acts structure. The movie is a character study movie but our main character is such a flat, unrealistic and caricature character. How can a kid be like that? How can a kid have this kind of thoughts? How can a kid have this cruelty? How can a kid have this insist on doing this kind of a violent act? It was a flat character who didn't change too much from the beginning to the end. The movie represents the idea of accepting people even if they tried to hurt you, but why did the Dardenne brothers put Muslims as the bad guys? Actually why are we treated as the bad guys from everyone? Bin-Laden? come on look at Hitler or Stallin. Whatever we are the stereotype of violence now so why do I whine.

The Dardenne brothers still have their cinematic tools like the long takes, shaky camera and not using a music. And like I said I liked it in (Deux jours, une nuit) But in this movie actually these tools made the movie slow paced and boring most of the time.

At the end I didn't like the movie at all, It wasn't entertaining and its ideas were biased.

The Dardenne brothers have once again produced a film that is both simple and powerful.

As the title suggests, this is the story of young Ahmed, a pre-teen who becomes totally involved in Islamism under the influence of an imam who recruits people to kill those who don't think like the Islamists. The film is interesting because it shows how the imam goes about indoctrinating him. The film is interesting because it shows how the imam goes about indoctrinating him, which will disturb, interrogate and question those around him: his school teacher, his family.

The great quality of the film is its script and staging: the story is told through the staging and what we see, i.e. Not through dialogues, intertitles or voice-overs, but through the behavior of the characters, particularly the young man. It's an impressive feat of realism and simplicity, giving every second of the film a sense of tension, a seemingly inescapable race to the finish. As the viewer is constantly from the young man's point of view, but not in his head, he discovers and understands what he is doing with a slight delay. And of course, the Dardennes exclude music from the staging: the film contains none. There's no bias to make us understand or dramatize what we're watching. A kind of empirical method.

Simple, powerful cinema. Prix de la Mise en Scène at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It seems obvious.

The Dardenne brothers linger, during 80 minutes, to a subject as cleaving as delicate: obscurantism and radicalization. Although the atmosphere is neat, the psychology of the characters is not elaborate enough. Thus, the character of Ahmed interpreted by Idir Ben Addi is definitely not credible: he looks like a harmless kid with a baby face. I can not believe such a child might fool adults so easily. As a matter of fact, the film is essentially based on this character who may then be considered as the keystone of a cinematographic structure. This keystone being defective, the structure collapses! Moreover, the rhythm of the film is a bit sluggish, even if this feeling is possibly due to my global lack of interest for the movie. In short: disappointing! 4/5 of 10.