LA PROMESSE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
The movie poster for LA PROMESSE has a teenage boy with a vacant expression zipping along on his small motorbike through the streets of Antwerp. As the air rushes through his hair, he seems oblivious to the world. This poster provides an apt metaphor to this meaningless pseudo-expose of the plight of immigrant workers.
Jeremie Renier plays the central character, Igor, the fifteen-year-old from the poster. Expressionless until almost the end, his long repressed emotions burst through briefly and as falsely as the rest of his otherwise stoic performance.
The simple but excruciatingly slow story concerns Igor, a petty thief, and his lumbering father, Roger (Olivier Gourmet), a bigtime crook. Roger (Olivier Gourmet), with the help of his son, smuggles illegal immigrants into Belgium for a fee. Once there, he treats them badly and rents them substandard housing. Olivier Gourmet plays his part as an uncaring bumpkin. He has such little passion that he almost lacks any humanity.
The story revolves around the accidental death of one of their illegal workers, Amidou (Rasmane Ouedraogo), from Bugina Faso in Africa. Roger forces Igor to help bury the body. This supercilious story's little drama revolves around whether Amidou's wife, Assita (Assita Ouedraogo), will discover that her husband is not just missing but dead and whether Igor will ever come to terms with his repressed guilt. Assita Ouedraogo, who expresses most of the show's emotions, confines these to outbursts of ranting and raving.
Much is made of the father's relationship with his son, but their chemistry has the same false ring as the rest of the production. In one sequence the father discovers that his son is a virgin. This is followed by an obligatory scene of the father's hustling him off to a bar where a woman in a low-cut dress laughs at Igor's every word.
This pretentious film, dripping with pathos and big messages, is the overly serious type most critics love. With his unsteady handheld camera Alain Marcoen films it in a blur of pans, extreme close-ups, backs of people's heads and all the artistically gritty shots possible. Marie-Helene Dozo's choppy editing also serves to make the viewer feel unwelcome. Although the attempt is for a film with a documentary feel, the result is amateurish and uneven. Written and directed by the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, it was a big hit at Cannes, if one believes the press kit. That does not mean the directors have produced a compelling narrative. LA PROMESSE wants to be gut-wrenching and inviting, but actually is cold and uninvolving.
LA PROMESSE runs 1:33. It is in French with English subtitles. Although unrated, its little violence and profanity would probably get it a PG-13, but this is a mature movie, appropriate only for teenagers and older. I found little in the show that felt honest so I give it thumbs down and * 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: July 22, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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