La Promesse, 1996

A bit grim in it's almost semi-documentary look at the life of a blue-collar Belgian teenager who is undergoing vocational education as a mechanic. He lives just with his father, who is kind of a sleazy operator in the construction business, with a complicated subworld he manages of illegal immigrants and transients of widely varying moral qualities, or lackings thereof. (And although given to simple-mindedness, he is not shown as evil, especially in regard to his son, who he tries to educate in elemental street smarts, if nothing else.) He has an old building full of various immigrants, and the story evolves around a pretty decent African couple who hit tragedy---and the way the young man responds to the desire to do right by the woman left behind. I read that the filmmakers lived and worked (as documentary filmmakers) in this working class type of community for years, and it shows in the tough-minded realism, even if it is also tempered by the sentimentality and goodness that can be occasionally glimpsed in this often tawdry existence. Remarkable social document that will slowly get under your skin, and finally really hook you after a slow and depressing start. When the story shows its heart, you know it has worked for it, and it seems real, not contrived. There are no easy heroes---and just a small slice of right-mindedness---in a complicated world of survival. 11.09

What did you think about this review?

Thank you for voting.

Like Dislike

Abuse report sent

Report abuse