Les Miserables

France 2019, 103 minutes
Dir. Ladj Ly
In French with English subtitles
Rating: [R13] Violence , offensive language & sexual references
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Suspense/Crime, Drama

Feat. Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga, Issa Percia, Al-Hassan Ly

“The most incendiary crime film to emerge from French cinema since Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine.”~Times (UK)

Aroview: This impressive feature debut from French director Ladj Ly is set in the French criminal underworld in aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when police violence erupted in suburban Paris.

Set in Montfermeil, the same troubled area of Paris as the Victor Hugo novel, it follows a corrupt cop who joins an Anti-Crime Squad and effects the lives of an impoverished local community. A sprawling piece of French realism filled with moral complexities and astute observations, inspired by Hugo's maxim that "there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators".