Hop

This film has it all, politics, football, history, action, quirky characters and an incredibly clever plot. The inventiveness of some of the plot lines are truly unique. I have never seen another film like it.

I am a French teacher and I love to see how the warmth of the relationships and the issues of illegal immigrants lead my students into some great debates. I was thrown off at the beginning by the German lessons, but it all makes sense in the end. Some of the scenes are laugh out loud funny, you can't help but get involved.

I won't spoil the ending by explaining the meaning of Le Hop, but it is an important life lesson that I have never forgotten.

France had Vidocq, the States had Attack Of The Clones and now Belgium has Hop. Thanks to Sony en Barco, director Standaert got his money to make his debut feature, only if he made it digitally! Well, the image is great, but the story is weak. This movie is about a young African kid who lives in Brussels with his father after they fled from Burundi, where their mother/wife was killed (or just died?). After an incident with their neightbours, they have to flee again. They are living in Belgium illegally and they know what that means. The father gets caught, but the young kid escapes and finds shelter at the home of an anarchist writer (Jan Decleir, from Daens and Character). To cut a long story short: the fathers gets send to Congo (yes, not to Burundi) and the writer and the kid threaten to blow up a famous Belgian landmark. (the kid already tried to blow up the Atomium, but the anarchist could prevent him doing so) The black and white photography is great, but that's the only thing great about this movie. The acting is soso, the story is ridiculous and the director blew the chance of showing the world that Flemish and French are equal in Belgium. They aren't of course, but still, you see two briljant Flemish actors who play Flemish characters and who talk French all the time!

I am so glad I have finally found a local theater that shows indie

movies. It is very refreshing.

This particular movie was so lighthearted and entertaining that you

can't help but love it. Of course, I know nothing about Belgian

politics--in fact, I'm not even 100% sure I know where Belgium is

(somewhere in Eurasia, I think)--but I was still able to enjoy it. It

has great photography, acting, and characters. The story is a little

out there, but it's a movie, so who cares? That doesn't make it any

less fun to watch. I think it was well worth my time. 8/10 stars.

Hop (2002), directed by Dominique Standaert, is really two films that are patched together in the same movie. The first third of the movie depicts two undocumented immigrants from Burundi who live in Brussels. Dieudonné, (Ansou Diedhiou) and his son Justin, (Kalomba Mboyi) have a quiet--if marginalized--life in a working-class neighborhood. It's clear that father and son love and respect each other, and that they're both intelligent and resourceful human beings.

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Dieudonné is arrested, and Justin ends up living with an alcoholic anarchist--Frans (played by Jan Declair) and his housekeeper, Gerda (Antje de Boeck). The interactions among the three are complex and interesting.

At this point the plot moves in a different direction, and becomes essentially a caper film-- can this unlikely trio actually free the boy's father from imprisonment and deportation.

The acting is uniformly excellent. Both Decleir and de Boeck are veteran Belgian actors, and they are highly competent professionals. (de Boeck may be a little too attractive for her part, but she conveys intelligence and compassion extremely well.)

Mboyi and Diedhiou are both newcomers, and they are extraordinarily talented. They look and act like father and son, and it was hard to remember that they were really just two actors doing a fine professional job.

For the caper part of the film, Standaert brings in the glamorous Alexandra Vandernoot as the tough, competent Police Commissioner Taminiaux. Her role didn't really call for much screen time, but when you've managed to sign a beautiful, nationally-famous actor to co-star in an independent movie, you'd better be prepared to work her into every possible scene.

The famous Belgian football hero Emile Mpenza is mentioned throughout the film, and he has a cameo part at the end. The movie has several clever touches like that. It's definitely worth seeing, and, in my opinion, it's much better than its dismal IMDb rating of 6.8 would suggest.

I think Hop will work very well on DVD. (Belgium is a wonderful tourist destination, but it doesn't have much scenic grandeur that would require a large screen.) We saw it at the Alan Lutkus International Film Series presented by SUNY Geneseo.

As the first viewer to comment on this film from the United States, let me say I found this film highly entertaining. I apologise for my ignorance on French-Flemish relations in Belgium, but having viewed "Hop" without that baggage (but with subtitles), I can report that the film is beautifully acted and photographed. Lead Kalomba Mboyi is an instant star playing the resourceful and understatedly brilliant Justin. Strong pacing, surprises, and even suspense punctuate a story that proceeds from the mundane to the almost unbelievable. I did not recognize this as an overtly political film, but as smooth entertainment. My fellow Americans will probably enjoy "Hop" more than the Belgian commentators seem to have.