La promesse

The movie brilliantly immerses itself in the details of running an illegal immigrant business (excellent scenes of the interchange of money; petty extortion; the miserable compromises and requests of the immigrants), from which the black couple and child gradually emerge as a sort of beacon of hope because of the gracious simplicity of their rituals in their horrible hovel. The movie avoids sentimentality or overt analysis - it s a highly respectful portrait of tumultuous actions in a very specific, eye-openingly grim sector of low life. The boy's relationship with the father is satisfyingly rounded - accommodating obvious mutual affection despite the outbursts of violence and the terrible paternal example set overall - and the portrayal of the woman is culturally precise and fascinating. A fine film, balancing enormous relevance with proper mystery.

LA PROMESSE is a coming of age story of sorts. The young teenaged protagonist works for his father, who loves him deeply. The father is sleazy exploiter of illegal aliens, and the boy is learning the trade of preying on the defenseless of society that includes theft from the elderly and extortion from the immigrants. And it seems to be suiting him just fine until he helps his father cover up a fatal accident at his construction site. The accident that did not have to be fatal, but the father does not want to risk the scrutiny of the authorities. The boy promises the dying immigrant that he will take care of the man's wife and baby. Slowly the youth begins to question his and his father's morality.

Shot in a documentary style without music score, the urban Antwerp setting as well as the story are uniformly gray and grim. Nonetheless this is an excellent film that tells a terrific moral tale to which there are no easy answers. An excellent rental.

La Promesse is one of the best films of this decade. With its simple style and character-driven plot, one may think that the film comes from one of the Dogma 95 manifesto directors but it doesn't. The film's strengths lie in its theme of morality and responsibility and in its no-nonsense portrayal of the immigrant situation in Belgium (with reverberations reaching all across Europe). One can say that it's a coming-of-age tale--and in some ways it is--but when one thinks of the usual film categorized as such, the moniker doesn't match. Even the scene where Igor is being seduced by an older woman, while his father and his father's girlfriend look on, has no follow-up, no clumsy bedroom scene where we see Igor lose his virginity. The film makers just cut from the seduction scene in the bar to Igor the next morning back to his "job" at the dilapidated building site. Clearly, the directors are unconcerned with the staples of the "coming-of-age" genre. More precisely, I think it should be called a "coming-of-conscience" film. The final scene is at the same time heartbreaking and thought-provoking. The way they end the movie is a masterstroke because it forces the viewer to ponder what will come next, thus prompting self-reflective questions on what the viewer himself or herself would have chosen to do.

I tend to think of any film in a foreign language as an 'artsy' movie, and avoid them like the plague. However, I had the good luck to catch "La Promesse" and I might have to change my thinking. The story is the kind that catches your interest quickly and never lets go. The film never adopts a high air...in fact, it's very gritty, which makes it that much more enjoyable. The characters are so believable you might think you're actually watching a documentary. To top it off, the morality play at the heart of the movie is done remarkably well. If you're in the mood for something different, see this movie.

"La Promesse", from the makers of "Rosetta", is an award winning drama which gets down to business quickly. The film is shot with no frills and the hard edge of a documentary. It tells of a father and son, both of questionable character, who make their living on the backs of transient illegal aliens in Belgium and the schism which developes between them as they engage a serious matter of conscience. Viewers with an appetite for reality in film will extol this flick while fantasy lovers may hate its grit.