Les Misérables 4 stars
There is no Jean Valjean or Cosette or extravagant musical numbers in this movie. Les Misérables is the directorial debut of French-Malian director Ladj Ly. It is a crime thriller drama depicting the extreme racial tensions of the Paris suburbs in which it is set. The town, Montfermiel, is the same place as the events of Victor Hugo’s novel. The strife of the characters also mirrors that of the 19th century book. The movie follows an elite police squad of the SCU who call themselves the Smack Combat Unit. Their job is to keep some sense of order in the mostly black, Muslim neighborhood of high density housing and street shops. Stephane is the new guy who is being introduced to the job, while Chris and Gwada are the experienced hands. An incident occurs involving some of the local teens and the unit must investigate to keep the matter from escalating. When the unit is confronted by a gang of teens, a decision by one of the police causes the situation to spiral out of control, setting the powder keg on fire. The movie is a realistic portrayal of the problems France has been facing with the young, poor, mainly African population and police who sometimes use repressive tactics. It is somewhat based on the riots that occurred around Paris in 2005 where thousands of vehicles were burned. Most of the acting is done by locals who previously had no acting experience. The movie shows several acts of violence by the characters and does not pretend to have any solutions to the problems. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film as France’s submission.