La Promesse (1996)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Best movie ever!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Though released in 1996, oh my goodness "La Promesse" feels like it could be a response to the current events of today.The film tells the story of a young man who helps his father bring illegal immigrants into Belgium and then proceed to rip them off. When one of the immigrants dies in an accident, the father covers up the death even as the man's wife, recently brought over with their baby to join him, begins to investigate what happened to him. The young man must decide for himself where his own feelings of what is right morally begin and his loyalty and fear of punishment end."La Promesse" is a film that puts faces to the abstract idea of illegal immigrants and reminds us that these are people just trying to better their lives in ways that are available to them. I of course know that the many ignorant Americans who slot all immigrants into the same category (terrorists) as an excuse to keep them out of our country would never see a movie like this, but how I wish there was some way to force them to think of immigrants not en masse, but as individual people with personalities, needs, desires, worries, and fears of their own.Grade: A

More than ten years after its release this film by the Dardenne brothers still looks fresh and actual. This is the story of a father and son who are involved in smuggling and hosting illegal immigrants in the European Community. When one of the immigrants dies in the accident the father imposes a cover-up. The boy cannot live quietly with this deed and slowly gets closer to the widow and her baby, filling in the promise to care for them that he had made to the dying immigrant, and redeeming himself and his humanity in the process.The quality and emotion of the film lie in the direct, almost documentary approach taken by the directors in telling the story, the realistic setting and especially in the splendid acting. Both Olivier Gourmet as the father and Jeremier Renier as the son give excellent performances, they are real, moving, caring for every detail. The two make this simple film a film to remember.

This is available with Rosetta on one DVD and it's a welcome change to discover a double DVD where both films are equal in quality. I'm not usually a fan of the 'hand-held' camera school of film making but in the case of Rosetta and this film I am happy to make an exception. It may well be noted that the freres Dardennes tend to load the dice in their own favor but there are times when a case can be made for playing with a stacked deck and this is one of them. Not too much happens. We meet Igor (Jeremie Regnier) and his father Roger (Olivier Gourmet) almost from Frame #1. Teenage Igor, pumping gas is not above stealing a purse from an elderly lady and if we find this a tad amoral it is as nothing compared to his old man who has a nice line in illegal immigrants, demanding their passports - or rather delegating Igor to collect them - in return for a few square meters of squalor and a fifty-fifty chance of deportation if and when they prove unable and/or unwilling to pay the extortionate 'rent'. The first and literal promise is the one made by Igor to the African who has fallen from a ladder whilst renovating the clapped-out house owned by Roger and is subsequently finished off by Roger lest his injuries prove an embarrassment. The injured man charges Igor with being responsible for the welfare of his wife and child and Igor, being still impressionable, takes this seriously, so much so, that he severs relations with his father thus bringing into play the secondary meaning of the title, the promise shown by Igor of getting under the wire as a human being. Excellent acting all round, complete lack of background music and a plot that ultimate involves make for a highly satisfying movie. 8/10

"La Promesse", from the makers of "Rosetta", is an award winning drama which gets down to business quickly. The film is shot with no frills and the hard edge of a documentary. It tells of a father and son, both of questionable character, who make their living on the backs of transient illegal aliens in Belgium and the schism which developes between them as they engage a serious matter of conscience. Viewers with an appetite for reality in film will extol this flick while fantasy lovers may hate its grit.