मनहूस

I walked into the theater to see Les Miserables late this afternoon with no expectations.

Maybe a thought that this was a modern 'woke' version of Hugo's classic. It isn't. It's a gritty, fast paced, police procedural set in the banlieues of Paris. Unflinching about what the police find there, and how the police act and react to a Paris that tourists never see.

Sobering and revolutionary.

A stunning find and a great movie.

Les Miserables - 2020 French crime drama on Netflix. I've not seen the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel but I reckon you couldn't get two films further apart. 3 policemen - two of whom have been brought up in the tough Parisian neighbourhoods in which they patrol. The other, a rookie fresh from leafy Cherbourg definitely has not. Rookie does not like the rough tactics of his two colleagues. And neither do we. But he - and we - soon come to learn that it isn't as clear cut as we think. The softly softly approach may not stand the test of time. This is a bleak film about a bleak world. And it's absolutely right that there's no easy answers. There is no sugar coating. And maybe rookie is just naive. And maybe we are too. My kind of film. A thought provoking 8 out of ten.

In Paris the fragile peace between gangs and police is threatened when a lion cub from the circus goes astray. Depicting the harsh and violent culture of the authorities and those the authorities universally neglect and forget (the world over): you reap what you sow and cultivate, if it has sharp fangs it will bite you where it hurts the most.

Does one have to be hardcore all the time? A cop that is in the streets of Paris. I am not pretending to know what it is like ... walking that thin line between being respectful but having others treat you with respect too. Especially when it comes to the criminal element on the streets.

But this is where this excels. While we concentrate on the cops mostly, we do get to see the world from every perspective there is. I think people compare it to La Haine, which might be fine, but I was thinking more of The Wire. The latter being American and tv show, but still ... the vibe of showing multiple sides ... and the humanity of both sides is strong in this one.

And when I say humanity ... we mostly see people not being able to actually communicate ... and therefor being stuck. Stuck in a circle of hate, frustration and violence. Something that the director is really capable of showing us. We dive into the whole thing and it is tough to know who to root for ... or rather and that is the tricky part: against! Because you see the police doing shady things, you won't really like them being ... mean to ordinary people.

There is an inciting incident ... well one that will change the world for all involved. And unfortunately that does not seem to be uncommon ... violence begets violence. And it is tough to impossible to break out of it ... but where will it lead? And how can it conclude? Is there hope? And what sacrifice would it take? What would it cost? To the dignity and the soul of those involved ... there is so much here, because it goes beyond the surface.

I stumbled across this by accident, but am more than happy that I did. And I had no idea what this would be about ... I actually thought it was going to be a documentary ... and it sort of begins like one too. But it does change lanes/gears and pace quite fast ... and goes on to tell a story that is one of the most gripping and intense ones I have seen this year ... not easy to watch at all mind you ... still worth every minute of it.

Some people acknowledge that this movie is well shot, but complain that it doesn't get the roots of the problem, doesn't point out the culprits, probably the capitalist society and France's colonial past. Neither does it offer much in the way of easy solutions, which would have been completely off the mark. Any of that would have led to a militant movie that would have satisfied a few militants but that would have had much less impact on the rest of the viewers.

People compare this movie to La Haine, which was a landmark in its time; but Les Miserables takes a much wider view, where each participant - even the shadiest - has his own logic (few women in this movie, btw) and reasons for doing what they are doing. It is this humanist outlook that tags it to Victor Hugo, rather than the story that has little to do with the novel of the same name.

The suspense is riveting to the end, all the more that we don't know exactly where the movie is going. There are loads of short appearances by little-known actors that leave you wondering whether they are are actually acting a part or playing their own role. The action scenes are realistic and original.