This masterpiece dates back to 1995, and despite that it still manages to evoke with the crudest and evocative style the essence of a poor banlieu, where discomfort and social degradation reign, an evergreen source of violence and claustrophobic fear in these kids who, unlike their peers of better birth, see no chance of a concrete future and can only try to escape, through various channels, from a present plight.
This is not a film with an articulated and refined interweaving, therefore there is almost nothing that can be 'unfortunately' revealed. What strikes me, and on which I would like to dwell, is the tone of Violence that pervades all the scenes, from first to last. A violence that is above all, if not almost exclusively, verbal: there is hardly any trace of blood, yet there is a constant tension in the air, very strong on an emotional level. The life of these young people flows in the indifference of the world, an almost total indifference, were it not for the policemen who treat them from animals, and for which they harbor a (in fact) visceral hatred.
Loneliness and discomfort that results, especially in the irascible Vinz, in practically all ways of expression of these poor boys: they do not have an adequate and polite language, at least according to some non-execrable parameters of civil life, to express their questions, their aspirations and fears.
The preferential lane is missing; hence the use of violence as the only means expression, as is evident in the famous vernissage scene, in which also a normal flirtation with two girls from the center turns into incomprehensible occasion of brawl and quarrels, to seal which (brilliant choice of screenplay) the enlightened person in charge of the event played by Kassovitz's father announces "the malaise of the periphery ...", almost justifying this malaise and detaching emotionally from the drama of this lack of communication.
The more the story goes on, the more these three guys arouse a real tenderness in me, mixed with the desire that the hatred of many suburbs social and existential similar to this can be transformed into positive energy and will to build something, instead of destroying.
I conclude by applauding the choice of black and white cinematography, a sign of a rough direction that does not compromise, and spares us the unrealistic nuances and not essential to the story they want to tell.
This is not a film with an articulated and refined interweaving, therefore there is almost nothing that can be 'unfortunately' revealed. What strikes me, and on which I would like to dwell, is the tone of Violence that pervades all the scenes, from first to last. A violence that is above all, if not almost exclusively, verbal: there is hardly any trace of blood, yet there is a constant tension in the air, very strong on an emotional level. The life of these young people flows in the indifference of the world, an almost total indifference, were it not for the policemen who treat them from animals, and for which they harbor a (in fact) visceral hatred.
Loneliness and discomfort that results, especially in the irascible Vinz, in practically all ways of expression of these poor boys: they do not have an adequate and polite language, at least according to some non-execrable parameters of civil life, to express their questions, their aspirations and fears.
The preferential lane is missing; hence the use of violence as the only means expression, as is evident in the famous vernissage scene, in which also a normal flirtation with two girls from the center turns into incomprehensible occasion of brawl and quarrels, to seal which (brilliant choice of screenplay) the enlightened person in charge of the event played by Kassovitz's father announces "the malaise of the periphery ...", almost justifying this malaise and detaching emotionally from the drama of this lack of communication.
The more the story goes on, the more these three guys arouse a real tenderness in me, mixed with the desire that the hatred of many suburbs social and existential similar to this can be transformed into positive energy and will to build something, instead of destroying.
I conclude by applauding the choice of black and white cinematography, a sign of a rough direction that does not compromise, and spares us the unrealistic nuances and not essential to the story they want to tell.