LES MISERABLES

France, 2019, 104 minutes, Colour.
Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al Hallsan Ly Almamy Kanoute.
Directed by Ladj Ly.

Over the decades there have been so many film and television versions of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. This is not another version but, rather, a homage to Hugo, his storytelling, his observation of the struggles of the poor in Paris, movements of revolution. It has been co-written and directed by Mali-born, Ladj Ly.

The film is set in the ethnic-mix area of Paris where Hugo wrote is masterwork.

The story focuses especially on children and teenagers in the area, glimpses of their home life and their parents, an introduction to mentors, some of whom agitate, others of whom want the best for the youngsters in the Muslim tradition. There are many scenes of the children outside, at games, congregating, fearful and suspicious of police, chasing the police – and an ultimate scene of many-revolution in a high-rise building, on the steps, in the lift.

However, the audience is introduced to this atmosphere via a policeman, Stephane (Damien Bonnard) transferring from the country to the city to be near his son, whose ex-wife has custody. He is put in a team with two veterans who have been patrolling the area for years, known by the young people, links with the mentors, and not particularly well liked. The officer in charge, Chris (Alexis Manenti) an anti-who co-wrote the script with the Dir) is brusque, not particularly race tolerant, has absorbed an authoritarian stance. His partner, Gwada (Djebril Zonga), African background, is the driver, but his work in the area taking its toll.

Much of the action is centred around a single episode, the stealing of a young lion from a circus, the police getting evidence to identify the thief, discovering it, pursuing him – he running very fast, the police running fast, the youngsters in hostile pursuit. There is police violence in the incident and the discovery that a studious boy from the high-rise manages a drone and that the whole incident has been filmed.

Stephane wants to take the boy to emergency. Chris is desperate to get the drone card to avoid trouble with the authorities. Gwada is overcome emotionally by the experience. It is in the pursuit of the drone card that the audience discovers how the older men work, manoeuvring their positions of influence and power. To a disturbing sequence where the line is returned to the lion tamer who takes the boy into the cage to be menaced by the lion.

There are some glimpses of the three men in the aftermath, Stephane wringing his son, Chris going home to his wife and daughters, Gwada going home to his devoted mother.

However, there is the final eruption between the youngsters, especially the thief whose face had been injured by a fireball, turning ammunition against the police, bombarding them with furniture and rubbish, and a final image which brings the film to a close but not the narrative: the boy with his fireball instrument, Stephane and his gun, harsh confrontation, and the rest left to what the audience has been watching, experiencing, feeling, and wondering about the possibilities for the future.

1. Victor Hugo’s title? Victor Hugo’s themes? 21st-century? The people? The law?? Revolution?

2. The setting, where Victor Hugo wrote his novel? Similarities and changes?

3. Race issues in France, in Paris, ethnic cultures, adaptation to French culture? Work, homes, incomes, poverty? Muslim issues? Muslim leaders?

4. The visuals of the area, apartments, streets, parks, rubbish dumps? The high-rise buildings? The musical score?

5. Slums, drug dealers, prostitution? Ethnic groups running particular deals? Local leadership, protection?

6. The introduction to the people in the area, in the streets, gatherings, takeaway restaurants, the children, their play, the young boy with the drone? The gathering of the children and the advice to meet with the Muslim leaders?

7. Stephane, travelling by train, the police transfer, separation, wanting to be near his son? Picked up by Chris and Gwada? At the precinct? The supervisor and her interactions? Chris in charge of the squad? The nicknames about slums and the cleanup? The years of patrolling? Everybody knowing who they were? Adults and reactions? Children and reactions? Hiding in fear? Assertion?

8. The personalities of the three men, their interactions, Chris in charge, his dominance, surliness, French? Gwada, his African background, living with his mother?

9. The patrols, the interactions, the tensions between the three men, Stephane nicknamed Greaser?

10. The incident with the lion, the circus, the lion tamer, the disappearance of the young lion? The patrol, the search? The picture on the camera? Issa and the lion? The visit to his house, the strong arm tactics, the resistance of his mother, Gwada and his courtesy, the search of the house?

11. The return of the lion, the sequences of the circus, the tamer taking Issa into the cage and the close confrontation by the lion?

12. Patrolling the streets, interrogations and searches? The boys playing? Sighting issa? His running away? The other children and their reactions? The men running, Gwada
driving? The long chase, cornering Issa? The youngsters during and challenging? Gwada, his temper, loss of control, firing the firebomb? Issa and the injury to his face, collapse? Stephane and his concern, wanting to get into the hospital? Chris wanting to get the disk from the drone? The reaction to everything being filmed?

13. Tracking down the adult contacts, the deals, the various men, the photographer, his running and pursuit, hiding and escaping? Going to the diner? Salah and his leadership? The other leaders confronting Salah in the shop? The issues, the police not wanting exposure, Stephane and his concern about Issa taking him to the pharmacy and treating him? The deals, the blackmail, each group being self-protective?

14. Stephane, with the boy, getting the disk? The confrontation with Chris? His hold over him?

15. Stephane, going home, the phone call to his son? Gwada, sad, his mother? Chris, going home, his daughters? Stephane meeting up with Gwada? Giving him the disk?

16. The continued work, the uprising with the young people, the siege in the apartment block, Issa and the firebomb, on the cars, on the men? The battle within the building, the young people bombarding the police, reactions? Dangerous tension, the call for backup?

17. The final image: Issa with the firebomb, above, looking down at Stephane, Stephane and the threatening gun? That there was no ending to this story, the final image as a symbol?