En Novembre, les élèves du collège ont eu la chance de pouvoir assister à de nombreuses projections de longs métrages dans le cadre du Festival du film européen de Virton.
Les élèves de rhétos ont dû réaliser des critiques de certains de ces films durant leur cours d’Anglais immersion. Certains ont accepté que leurs textes soient publiés sur le site du collège.
Les voici …
“Le jeune Ahmed” by the Dardenne brothers, An emotional true story (Elise Cornette et Maud Gobert)
Ahmed, a Belgian teenager, really wants to become a good Muslim. Rapidly, he starts to learn more and more about this religion and begins to practise it a lot until a point of no return. This gripping film is based on a true story.
To begin with, the thing that we particularly like is the characters and more precisely the way they are played. We know that the Dardenne brothers choose unknown talents who have often had some of the actual life experience of the characters they portray. This makes the story truthful. They play exactly as they live and it spreads more feelings in a natural way.
Moreover, another amazing point is the emotional aspect. Thanks to the non-professional actors, who react genuinely to events, the story is full of true stirring moments, and the viewers feel closer to the characters. We more specifically remember the ultimate meeting between Ahmed and his teacher. Nowadays, authenticity is really what most blockbuster films lack.
Unfortunately, there is, according to us, one main negative part: the rhythm. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne film on their one very specific way. They just record the whole story once without stopping the camera. It is just natural and so realistic! However, these characteristics do not produce much action.
To conclude, we do like the “Young Ahmed” from the Dardenne brothers. This moving story seems natural thanks to the way of filming. The characters are also well played. It is a pleasant moment for strong feelings.
Fisherman’s friends : the film that catches our heart ! (Camille Liégeois & Carla Clément)
This 2019 film is about a group of fishermen who are friends and live in a little fishing village with a harbour. One day, the music executive of a big record company comes from London for a friend’s stag weekend, and wants to form a band with the singing fishermen. After some hesitation, they finally accept the offer. Lots of adventures follow and the survival of the band is sometimes in jeopardy.
This film is very interesting and shows that the most important things in life are family, friends and confidence.
First of all, the characters are really moving. Every fisherman has an important place in the band. They all have special links with each other. Even if the artistic agent had evil intentions at the beginning, he finally falls in love with a girl of the village and makes every effort to help the band become famous. Every character has their own personality and their own values, and takes care of the music band.
This film is not only a comedy, it is also a musical. All the songs of the film are extraordinary. They are typical shanties related to the fishermen’s village. They sing together to make people around happy. Some of them are really popular, such as “what should we do with the drunken sailors?”. We recommend you to listen to these songs after watching the film, it will boost you!
The landscapes are fantastic too! You can see one of the prettiest villages in Cornwall, the most romantic region in Great-Britain! Among others, you will see: a lighthouse, the sea, the small pub of the village … The single girl of the village is a photographer, so, beside conveying the Cornish atmosphere, she will also bring the fishermen’s life at sea to light.
In conclusion, we recommend this film. It is a good opportunity to relax as a family or with friends and to watch a good film. The setting, the music, and the actors are great, and that is why we enjoyed it so much!
“Le jeune Ahmed” : surprisingly captivating (Flore Lanners)
It is hardly ever a pleasant experience to go to the cinema with your French teacher. Students are at best happy to miss a class, but most of the time, they come out of the cinema dying to sleep (needless to say, it is not the case with the movies shown during English classes, which are far more interesting!). But let me now tell you about a movie full of surprises: “Le jeune Ahmed”, by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
The story takes place in Belgium and deals with the topic of religious extremism. The central character is Ahmed, a Muslim boy whose life is dedicated to God. He prays a lot and follows strict rules. The problem is that his Imam brainwashes him; as a result, he tries to kill his teacher because she is “disrespectful to God”. He fails and he is sent to a juvenile detention centre. The whole plot is about him and the way his opinion changes.
As you are reading this synopsis, you might be thinking “This look so flat and unoriginal!”. Well, if that is the case, let me first point out that you forgot an “s” at the end of “look”, and advise you to read below why you are wrong about this movie.
Even if the theme may seem bland, keep in mind that the directors are the Dardenne brothers. Their genre is far from the Hollywood blockbusters and the comedies we are used to seeing, but they successfully create something likable. They tell a story in a sentimental and clear way, with details and moments that are so subtle that the audience can only be amazed by their brilliant technical skills. They show what has to be shown, like the way Ahmed and the Imam talk together, but the way they show it does not influence the audience, which is excellent for our critical sense.
What is also admirable is the acting. The boy who plays Ahmed is not an actor but still looks like he has been doing that for years. He is natural, expressive, and his acting is so realistic that we forget it is a movie. We are not watching actors anymore: they are real people from real life, living, being sad, angry, afraid or happy. Those feelings are reinforced by the absence of a soundtrack. The only sounds that we hear are produced by the characters, and that makes the atmosphere even more natural (when you run in real life, you do not have Rocky’s music in the background either).
To conclude, I would say that I was positively surprised. I am usually very demanding when watching a movie or reading a book, and I tend to see all its flaws at first sight and to form an opinion after ten minutes. “Le jeune Ahmed” passed the test with flying colours and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes authentic and moving films.
