Les Misérables

Adopting the point of view of a rookie (Damien Bonnard is as perfect as ever, able to switch very quickly between resignation and revolt) opposed to his bully colleague (the intense Alexis Manenti), Ladj Ly brings his elements into tension in an effective first part (...). Les Misérables is an unflinching and accurate depiction of the reality of police violence on housing estates, while at the same time showing the material impossibility of the so-called forces of law and order to carry out their mission properly. What emerges is a game where everyone loses, where everyone is miserable – although Ly is very clear that some are more guilty than others. The film is most impressive in its final movement, when the adults’ compromises with morality and the law (police, Islamists, ‘big brothers’, all accomplices) become so obscene, so obvious, that the youngest have no choice but to take justice into their own hands. The incandescent finale, in the vein of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing or Jean-François Richet’s Ma 6-T va crack-er (Crack 6-T), resounds like a powerful cry of exasperation, sending cynics and ready-made solutions alike packing. At the heart of this revolt, the swollen face of young Issa, given the aura of a modern Gavroche by Ladj Ly, remains unforgettable. (Jacky Goldberg; Les Inrockuptibles)