Une minute de silence

A hundred years time after Emile Zola and his Germinal ,a page has been turned.There are no more miners in France."Une minute de silence" depicts the last moments of a mine in Merlebach.Some things have not changed:everything belongs to the mine,including the one-eyed's cafe.

The director was heavily influenced by Kenneth Loach whose shade hangs over the whole movie.But not for the best:The only thing the script writers seem to have learned from the English artist is a loose plot,and in spite of some good actors,such as Bruno Pulutzu,de la comedy française,the movie never really takes off.Unlike Loach's characters these ones are not really endearing and we do not really care about them.The "minute of silence" -which gives the movie its title is a good trick,which might allow the viewers to make some dough,provided their friends did not see the movie,but the connection with the movie escapes me,I fear.Of course,when somebody dies (or something:here,the mines),the minute of silence is de rigueur.But the metaphor is ponderous it's the least we can say.