Directed by:
Mathieu Kassovitz
First released: 1995
Primary Cast (characters played under their own name):
Vincent Cassel
Hubert Kounde
Said Taghmaoui
"It's about a guy falling off the fiftieth floor of a skyscraper
On his way down past each floor,
he kept saying to reassure himself
So far so good...
So far so good...
jusqu'ici tout va bien...
How you fall is not important.
It's the landing that counts."
A young boy from the banlieue, the ghettos that surround Paris, Abdel Ichaha, lies dying in a hospital bed following a brutal beating from police. Riots around the area where he lived follow the news of his plight. The film starts the morning after a large scale face-off between local youth, tired of the brutality and intimidation, and the police. The area is littered with burnt out cars and rubble.
The film follows Vincent, Hubert and Said through a day and a night as they go about their business, reflecting on the situation as they do so.
It's a dark, realistic, humourous and very watchable film. Although it comments simply on the situation the characters are well put together and believable. This is a picture of ghetto life that goes beyond the Hollywood play acting of Gangsta Youth. Joints are smoked throughout the film, but the whole stoner thing is left out. It's part of their life, not all they do. Violence is there but it is reasoned or it is questioned, the exception being the brutality of the police. The politics and reality of the situation are discussed and argued over by the three. All three with different aspects and viewpoints, but all are hurt and angered by what goes on around them.
"It's about a society in free fall
As it goes down it keeps telling itself...."