Young France Rages Against the Machine
Joe Biden should watch Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables
As Joe Biden attempts to reunite the nation in the midst of racial tensions and anger, I would recommend that he watch Ladj Ly’s timely and haunting film Les Misérables (2019). The film balances its cries of racial justice without providing easy answers to the questions it ponders. Les Misérables takes place in the housing projects of Paris called the banlieues, but the impact of its message has global appeal. The film is a worthy successor to Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine (1995). It not only examines racism in a more complex manner by expanding on the dynamic between the police and the impoverished citizens, but it also unpacks the effects of colonialism on French life. The timely and often tragic themes of the film bolster Les Misérables to greatness. The film is a masterful exploration of the fall of French society that conveys the all too real violence pervasive in today’s political climate.
The film introduces three main characters who are law enforcement agents surveying the streets of Paris. The officers continually harass the young Black boys within the projects. Stephane is a level-headed policeman caught in the middle of an ongoing battle between the residents of the banlieues and his fellow officers. Gwada is a cop who grew up in the banlieues and has been desensitized to the ongoing anger and aggression in society. He looks down on the poor children and continually mistreats them as a way to portray his socio-economic superiority. The most volatile and hostile of the police officers is Chris, who uses his position of power to control and mistreat individuals living in the housing projects. He rules them like a colonizer with his police badge and gun. It is clear that these officers are not like Alexander Dumas’s three musketeers fighting for justice.
The main plot revolves around an accidental injury that is inflicted by the police officer Gwada upon a young boy named Issa (meaning Jesus in Arabic). After his injury, Issa was bullied by the officers to stay silent about the accident. Issa is later thought to be dead, but he resurrects himself and fulfills his destiny through vengeance. Issa and his young friends decide to orchestrate a violent uprising against the corrupt cops.
In many ways, the young boys are now the perpetrators of brutality, rather than the victims. These boys feel the need to fight against the traps of police power and the legacies of colonialism. Issa is like a savior who rises up against systemic and societal controls. The message and intent of the film are best exemplified in the final lines, “Remember this my friends there are no such things as good and bad people only bad cultivators”. Trying to find and create an understanding of what has caused violence to erupt in France is extremely important as this film examines the interplay between class, colonialism, and racism. Ultimately, Lady Ly conveys that violence does not occur in a vacuum; there are many historical, social and political causes of violence and aggression. Ladj Ly’s movie is an eye-opening experience that examines police violence has a legacy linked to racial divides and class structures based on a complex history. There are no easy solutions in France or elsewhere — something President Biden should remember as he seeks policies to address police violence and racism in the US.
