"Dheepan" is the newest movie by French writer and director Jacques Audiard and it won the BAFTA-winning filmmaker his first Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Many people call 2015 the year of refugees and immigration, at least here in Germany and that is why the subject of this film is such a fitting one in the face of current developments. Most of the dialogs in here are in Tamil, so make sure you get subtitles for this one. The most known cast member is maybe Marc Zinga, who also appeared in the newest Bond film recently. Vincent Rottiers is also fairly known, at least in France and he probably gave my favorite performance in this movie, even if I have to say he did not really look like somebody with a name of Brahim. The two lead actors are still very unexperienced and new to film and I will not bother you with their complicated names. But they play their parts well too.
To me, "Dheepan" needed a while to become interesting really, probably at least the first 35-40minutes that didn't do too much for me. However, then it became more interesting, so the middle part of the film was certainly my favorite. I was a bit too disappointed with the ending. It did not feel too realistic, was very forced as a happy ending in my opinion and the scenes before when the protagonist almost turns into some kind of terminator weren't too convincing either in my opinion. Shame, this film could have been a lot better than it actually turned out. Apart from the very dramatic parts, it has quite a documentary feeling to it. This is neither a negative or positive statement. You have to decide for yourself how much this is up your alley.
Overall, I did not like this film as much as Audiard's previous work, "De rouille et d'os", but that's nothing unexpected as there is no Marion Cotillard in here and I totally adore her. Nonetheless, as a whole, I thought "Dheepan" was a good watch once it got going. Good acting, good writing and a memorable character study that gets a bit destroyed by the ending unfortunately. Many very atmospheric scenes included in here. If you like films about culture and social struggles, especially in France these days, and you have a chance to see this one in a theater near you, go check it out. You will probably not regret it. There is also a massive irony to this film in terms of where the characters come from, but how they witness war in the so-called western world. It is also interesting how we perceive it as tragic and inconvenient, while we do not really think about the long time violence and war have been an essential component in dozens of other countries for decades now.
To me, "Dheepan" needed a while to become interesting really, probably at least the first 35-40minutes that didn't do too much for me. However, then it became more interesting, so the middle part of the film was certainly my favorite. I was a bit too disappointed with the ending. It did not feel too realistic, was very forced as a happy ending in my opinion and the scenes before when the protagonist almost turns into some kind of terminator weren't too convincing either in my opinion. Shame, this film could have been a lot better than it actually turned out. Apart from the very dramatic parts, it has quite a documentary feeling to it. This is neither a negative or positive statement. You have to decide for yourself how much this is up your alley.
Overall, I did not like this film as much as Audiard's previous work, "De rouille et d'os", but that's nothing unexpected as there is no Marion Cotillard in here and I totally adore her. Nonetheless, as a whole, I thought "Dheepan" was a good watch once it got going. Good acting, good writing and a memorable character study that gets a bit destroyed by the ending unfortunately. Many very atmospheric scenes included in here. If you like films about culture and social struggles, especially in France these days, and you have a chance to see this one in a theater near you, go check it out. You will probably not regret it. There is also a massive irony to this film in terms of where the characters come from, but how they witness war in the so-called western world. It is also interesting how we perceive it as tragic and inconvenient, while we do not really think about the long time violence and war have been an essential component in dozens of other countries for decades now.