Directed By Ladj Ly

Starring – Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga

The Plot – Assigned to work alongside unethical police veterans Chris (Manenti) and Gwada (Zonga) in Paris’ Anti-Crime Brigade, Brigadier Stéphane Ruiz (Bonnard), a recent transplant to the working-class suburb of Montfermeil, where Victor Hugo wrote his famous novel Les Misérables, struggles to establish a working relationship with influential community leaders while attempting to maintain some semblance of peace between his disreputable team and the citizens of the local housing projects. When what should be a simple arrest goes tragically awry, the three officers must individually reconcile with the aftermath of their actions while angling to keep the neighborhood from retaliating with mob violence.

Rated R for adult language throughout, some disturbing/violent content, and sexual references

POSITIVES

– Aesthetic punch. Ly’s strongest quality as a director is easily his personality as a visual storyteller, which offers no shortage of versatility, both in styles and movements, that attains success as being an immersive pioneer of filmmaking. When the beats of the story are on the ground with interaction between multiple characters, he captures everything in handheld movements that breed claustrophobia. This not only grants the movie a documentary-like feel in visual capacity, but it also amplifies the anxiety within the volume of characters who move in and out of frame at any given moment. In addition to handheld, Ly also supplants drone footage for establishing shots that echo the story beats of one particular youthful character, as well as still frame photography for moments of candid honesty between few characters. This proves that like the variations of people that make up the city of Montferil, the movie shifts gears at even the slightest sign of tension between them, and constructs a visual powderkeg that is every bit riveting as it is absorbing.

– Tight-gripped performances. While none of the deliveries in “Les Miserables” are anything deserving of academy recognition or year’s best notoriety, the work from the three leads articulates a level of professionalism and control over their respective characters that keeps them feeling every bit honest and more importantly; human. It starts with Bonnard, a man who serves as our honorable protagonist, yet struggles with some of the regrets of the past that have defined his life for the worst. There’s a tragic element to the character that drives his many intentions, yet an unshakeable fear of conscience that limits his ability for change. On the other end of the moral coin is Alexis Manenti, easily the film’s most despicable character. As an egocentric police officer, Manenti toes an easily collapsible line that makes him easy to hate without feeling over-the-top for the sake of playing towards a movie’s villain, and even with a delve as often irredeemable as this one, Manenti sacrifices no bit of charisma in capturing the attention of every scene he accompanies. Djebril Zonga, who plays another veteran cop, Gwada, feels like the middle ground between these polar opposite sides of the co-workers who surround him. Zonga’s enveloping is mostly silent, choosing to pick his moments of audible influence for when they matter most in the film, but it’s the clearly evident side to his demeanor that bares the weight of the many distasteful things his force has done that he wears like a wet sweater. All of these actors approach their roles differently, yet maintain that air of selflessness that makes this more of a collective piece than a couple of singular performances, all the while preserving that air of authenticity that so much of the movie garners in today’s social landscape.

– Reflection to life. On the side of being socially relevant, the film takes us through many themes and controversies that we in the world are currently dealing with, offering a stern coincidence that hits the hardest if you are watching this movie for the first in June of 2020. Police brutality, racism, a crumbling economy, and an inevitable revolt are just a few of the centerpiece discussions that the film takes us through with unapologetic honesty, bringing forth an inescapable cinematic experience that cohesively reflects many of the same issues that the George Floyd protests have brought forth in current day. The script takes us from every vantage point within the townspeople, alluding to the idea that the big blow will stem from many combustible elements stirring as one continuous moment in a moment that will define history forever. It constructs that rare strange parallel where fiction becomes non, and makes the experience all the more effective because its social commentary only persists beyond your living-room of security.

– Beyond the title. “Les Miserables” almost immediately gives the audience a feeling that this movie is a remake of the heralded novel by Victor Hugo, which examines the nature of law and grace accordingly while taking us through the philosophies and monarchism of the Paris landscape. However, the coincidences within this film start and stop there, and the shuffling of these themes are used in contemporary renderings in a way that alludes to how little we as people have learned from history. Sure, the novel and author are mentioned a couple of times throughout the film, breaking the fourth wall for the first time in the novel’s history to capture the impact of such a visionary, but this chapter introduces new shape-shifting adversities that tie cleverly into Hugo’s portrait of the world he sees, all the while existing on the very stage that we currently shuffle across every day. So while this isn’t a remake, sequel, or anything in between, there’s plenty of magnetic ties into monarchism in current day that make this another chapter in Hugo’s literary accomplishment, and one that maintains the persistence of sorrow that many of his characters are responsible for.

– The town. Aside from the cultures and sociological themes that set the table for many of the film’s meaty thematic dissections, the people and places are brilliantly fleshed out in a way that captures the dissatisfaction from so many points of commentary, all the while taking us through the various levels of poverty that plague it like a character of its own. The movie has no less than ten different characters who it focuses on at any given time. This helps to keep the pacing fresh, but more than that it certifies each of them with an importance that has eventual weight to the conflict and resolution that each of them seek. Along the way, the film’s ever-changing setting takes us through the many slums and high-rises of the lower class, and the unanimously black population who dwell from within it. Inside, there’s a corrupt mayor, very few adults, and an urge for violence that serves as their only means for change. Everything is easy to interpret because of the level of depth from within the storytelling, but Ly’s direction instills several nuances from within that feel almost like first-handed experiences, giving this a passion project edge that satisfies on every level of its production.

– Sturdy characterization. There’s no shortage of compelling characters or resonating backgrounds that fills the movie’s foreground, but what makes each of them compelling is that none of them truly fit the good or bad guy mold that cuts a movie’s ensemble directly in half. For Bonnard’s Stephane, his intentions are mostly true, but every once in a while there’s a selfish decision thrown in to save face, and even de-escalate a situation. One could credit this as honorable, but the decision ultimately does nothing but buy the situation a little more time, and proves that Stephane lacks the commitment to take full grasp of a situation. For Manenti’s Chris, we come to know a power hungry authoritarian, who even though he has a difficult time with people and overall effort, the movie still takes time in depicting him as a family man whose days start and end with his kids on his lap watching TV. That’s how it is for every character and the audiences experiences with them. If you’re someone who values police, you will see a side of their captors that you never experienced. If you’re someone who has difficulty trusting police, you will experience how difficult the job can be at any given time.

– Metaphorical imagery. Not much to report here, but I always take time to credit a director who instills various images and color to vividly tell the story of what’s taking shape, and “Les Miserables” is certainly no different in this capacity. The color green seems to pop up more than expected. This not only obviously represents the greed that makes up much of the adult characters it highlights, but also the deceit that motivates much of their ulterior motives to what is taking shape in the foreground. Another metaphorical stance is of that of the lion kidnapped in the film. The script seems to subtly debate whether the lion’s life of imprisonment is better because it’s safer than being free with someone not capable of raising such a predator. This stance reflects on the humans in the film too, as their life of imprisonment in a system defining them clearly can’t be better than risking it all for equality, can it?

– Against conventions. Setting this story in a suburb of Paris is not only necessary for the film’s continuity to the Les Miserables novel, but it also allows us a side of such a tourist attraction that very few films have ever colorfully delved into. This is where Ly inserts minimal humor into the film, as we are treated throughout to various images of French scenery, like the Eiffel Tower and the various art that adorns its business districts. That isn’t the story you are going to see here, as almost immediately, the exotic landscapes and film’s opening peaceful march after the victory in the 2005 World Cup, are exchanged for what’s boiling beneath the surface. A collective scream so loud that you can practically hear it. Ly does, and breaks the various conventions about the country by channeling in on race relations in a place where it is so rarely thought of in, proving that there is no shortage in the world where 19th century problems are still rearing its ugly head in 21st century surroundings.

NEGATIVES

– Anti-climatic third act. There are many problems that I had with the resolution of the film’s closing moments, particularly with how it handles what up until then felt like a suffocating dose of nerves colliding together simultaneously. For one, the final stage isn’t set up until far too late in the film’s 99 minute run time. There’s roughly ten minutes left in the movie when we come to the point of no return with the respective sides. This not only isn’t enough time to let everything materialize naturally, but it also feels tacked-on considering everything feels resolved a little too neatly before this scene takes shape. Then there’s the ending itself, or complete lack of one. This is becoming a popular cliche with cinema in 2020 (See The Turning), as a movie will just end without resolution from what is produced from the conflict. Here, it doesn’t hurt as bad as said previous film, as I understand what Ly was intending, but it inevitably will leave audiences unfulfilled considering much of the previous minutes leading up to this confrontation feel so permanent and vicious with what materializes.

– Musical issues. I will be in the minority here, and that’s fine. For my money, I wish there was no musical score for the movie. This would feed into the documentary ideal that I previously mentioned, and keep it from feeling like a manufactured piece of cinema. Unfortunately, this film does have compositions, and if it’s going to go that route, at least produce something worthy of intensifying what is transpiring on screen. The musical pieces in the film are not only uninspiring and flat in their instrumental accompanying, but the movie’s sound mixing makes them practically indistinguishable from the events happening in any scene of physical conflict. Even hours after watching it, I can’t remember a single composition that stayed with me past the scene it adorned, and it just makes me wish the music would be silenced so as to take less away from the heat of the scene and environment.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+