Le jeune Ahmed

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.

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.

While the main character could have a used a bit more character development, once we know his goal and his different attempts the suspense becomes riveting.

Knowing quite well the events in France and Belgium of the past year I'd say that the film is a strong realistic representation of fanatism in a miniature setting.

In Belgium, the teenager Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi) lives with his family and has classes of French and Arabic languages with his teacher Inès (Myriem Akheddiou). However, he has been brainwashed by his Imam Youssouf (Othmane Moumen) with a wrong interpretation of the Koran, despite the warnings of his mother (Claire Bodson). Ahmed decides to kill Inès but fails and is arrested. While under the care of the State, he works at a farm and meets the young Louise (Victoria Bluck), who has a crush on him. But she is not Muslin, and Ahmed scorns her. The radical Ahmed has an agenda and flees from his social worker.

"Le jeune Ahmed", a.k.a. "Young Ahmed" (2019), is a Franco-Belgian production with a simple story of hatred. The movie shows an impressive demonstration of how teenagers may be manipulated and become fanatic by radicals. This is the case of the lead character Ahmed, who received and adopted a wrong interpretation of the Koran and is destroyed by his belief. My only question is why fanatics stay in the Western civilization, instead of returning to their home countries. This is the same case of fanatic racists that praise their mother land. Why they do not move back? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Jovem Ahmed" ("The Young Ahmed")

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?