Saw this in the UK Jewish Film Festival, where we were told Arcady had a job getting this film financed. It's extremely well made and acted: if, as one reviewer wrote, it was a huge flop, it didn't deserved to be. However, box-office failure would be understandable, since the French presumably knew the story well and wanted to be entertained rather than harrowed. One thing I didn't quite understand was the judge's ruling that this was an anti-Semitic crime. Apart from the obvious, pedantic point that most of the gang were Arabs (and Semites themselves) it's obvious that their motivation was financial. This bunch of half-wits had the idea that all Jews are filthy rich, then seized a young man whose family were nowhere near able to come up with the 450,000 euros they wanted. If their motivation had been hatred of Jews they would have just tortured and killed the poor lad. As the weeks went by and their frustration grew, their behaviour got more and more violent and they even stopped feeding him. The leader of the gang was particularly repellent.
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tony-70-66792018 November 2014
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searchanddestroy-11 May 2014Inspired from actual events that occurred in France, back in 2006, and with the very same names, this story tells us the tragic fate of a Young Jewish man who has been abducted, tortured and then killed by a bunch of petty hoods. Garbage punks who also succeeded in jeopardizing the police force in search for them. During nearly three weeks. Not bad for garbage punks. They were all lead by a french and Africa native man, who monitored all the affair from Ivory Coast, his fatherland.
This movie is taut, sharp, very well made and also edited in such a way that you are glued to your seat all long the feature. Emotions are amazingly shown. Terrific. All actors are here at their best. A flawless film where Alexandre Arcady gives here also his very best.
I only hope that if, instead of a Jewish man, it would have been an Aran - Muslim - who had been the victim, and perpetrated by extremists zionists, I hope that would have been shown with the same strenght. In a so powerful way.
I just hope... -
keenast21 September 2019Notwithstanding if this (or something like this actually happened) it falls flat as for one there seems to be no cliché left out, and then in the end it's a 'message' movie - and message movies don't work. Both, the good and the bad parties in this film are very one-dimensionally portrayed - the film leaves on empty on an emotional and also intellectual level. It could have been a much better film.
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I didn't realize that there were so many anti-Jewish people on IMDb who could not get passed the fact that the victim was Jewish. I would feel badly toward any type of victim out there, Arab, Jewish, Black, Asian, or even White.
I agree with the person who wrote that people were judging the film on its merit without even watching it. I thought that it was very well acted. It managed to be suspenseful even to people who knew the outcome of the events, which is a difficult feat.
If you have a chance see this film which will give you a slice of history. -
archied21 September 2015I recently viewed this movie on Netflix and was struck by the impression that a movie with a similar plot and circumstances would probably not be produced in the US or the UK. Kudos to the makers of this film who had the courage to tell a true story that most people probably were never aware of and where the characters involved do not fit a preferred template. Most foreign-made movies I've seen on Netflix often are superior to American films in both content and acting, primarily because they are devoid of Hollywood scripting/acting where characters mechanically spew their lines with no reflection of authentic human character or realism.
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Silly me. I thought these reviews were supposed to be about a movie, not a means to dispense convoluted political and racist ideology.
This film was so good that I almost felt like applauding at the conclusion. But considering the subject matter, that would have been rather inappropriate.
The film was taut and suspenseful, even tho you pretty much suspected how it would end. The performances were all on point. Even the subtitling was well done.
Yes, the subject was depressing. But it was a real life story. We can't alter the facts. But you can certainly appreciate the quality, and the message. -
gpowerz12 May 2014This film is the story of a young innocent Jew who was kidnapped by a gang of 25 people because they believed that all Jews are rich.
He was tortured for 24 days.
The neighborhood did not say anything.
The police were unable to find at time this poor young man.
We have a duty to remember this story so that she does not happen again.
The actors are in the film are wonderful and it will be difficult not to shed a tear.
Caution: Do not Listen false criticisms of people who have not even seen the movie and says bad things about this film only because it speaks of a Jew. -
Even if we set aside the reality of this film, it's a compelling police procedural.
In France a 24-year-old man set up by a honeypot, then kidnapped for ransom,. The family would pay what they can but the police don't want to encourage further kidnapping. They prevent any publicity, fearing the kidnappers would kill the man once they know they're involved. The police specialists enforce their strategy. Sometimes the family's women fall out of line because their emotions are stronger, making them more vulnerable. Our best nature is our weakest; the brutes' worst is their strength.
The negotiations drag on. The investigation is slowed by concerns for citizens' privacy and by the absence of clues or any witnesses' testimony. The police stop the head man for an identity check but have no reason to detain him. That scene probably provokes the indignation of every cinema audience in Western civilization. But we know the guy's guilt because we saw the movie; the police haven't so don't. A possible arrest is bungled by another police division. That ends negotiations. The man is dumped in the countryside and set afire. He's found near a highway but dies en route to the hospital. He had been brutally tortured for 24 days and not fed for 14. Finally a salesgirl coaxes a woman friend who knew of the operation to turn herself in. The culprits are arrested, convicted and jailed.
It's a thrilling suspense story, impeccably performed and produced. It raises the appropriate issues about kidnapping and ransom strategies, the victim family's interest vs the public's, the balance between a vigilant police and an intrusive one. Good film.
Then there's the reality. It raises this genre thriller to a cultural document.
It's the story of the 1986 abduction, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi by a Parisian Arab gang who targeted Jews because they supposedly have more money. A rabbi admits the community has paid some ransoms in the past, so the stratagem continues.
Still, Ilan was targeted because he was Jewish. His abductors' antisemitism is clear in his torture. When the mother initially fears the Muslim abductors will repeat the Daniel Pearl story her husband assures her: "This is not Pakistan." He proves wrong.
The police refuse to acknowledge it as a race crime so stick to their normal ransom playbook. Because the victim is a Jew the shopgirl ignores the case. She could have saved his life. The race element could have engaged the entire Paris police force, not just the local division. Even after Ilan has been found and his horrible abuse noted, the chief prosecutor denies race was involved. Buckling under pressure the magistrate finally accepts antisemitism but only as an "aggravating" circumstance. A year later the mother has the body exhumed and moved to Jerusalem. His torturers would soon be released and she didn't want them to find his grave in Paris where they could spit on it.
Clearly the French government wants to avoid any suggestion of a cultural war with Muslim radicals. They're also embarrassed by the resurgence of French antisemitism, which seems higher now than at any point since the Nazi occupation. Otherwise how could they vote at the UN Security Council in favour of granting the Palestinians unilateral statehood and compelling the Jews to leave Judea, Sumeria and Jerusalem (all of which were clearly part of the promised Jewish state of Palestine), which would expose Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to short-range Hamas rockets. In France Muslim votes far outweigh the Jewish.
This denial of reality is not limited to the French. Ottawa insisted its recent jihadist attacks were just lunatic not terrorist, despite the jihadist rhetoric. North American campuses are rife with antisemitic rhetoric and violence that are excused as political discussion. What US networks are showing the satiric cartoons that the current Paris slaughter is intended to punish? Muslim terrorists are winning by intimidation.
When the gang leader is finally arrested in the Ivory Coast and extradited, his last words are "I'll be back and I'll kill you all." The "I'll be back" may be an angry but idle threat for him. But it's true for the antisemitic bloodlust that has returned across Europe and North America and encourages the Palestinians to continue their 90-year-old plan to drive the Jews into the sea. -
ginobean25 October 2015This was a drama based on a real life kidnapping that occurred in France, in 2006.
The kidnapping gang targeted Jewish males, because they erroneously thought that all Jews were rich.
Performances were excellent all around. I thought the mother was a bit much at times and got on my nerves at times. I realize she was under great stress, but yelling at and berating the police officers and hostage negotiator, who are all there to help you, is not helpful and may indeed have caused them to perform at less than their best.
The movie insinuates that there must have been at least a few people in the apartment complex, where the kidnappee was being held, who must have seen something, but this seemed a bit of an overreach. They may have seen something, but given that they didn't know that there had been a kidnapping, they probably had insufficient cause to alert the police.
Also, the movie indicates that this was fundamentally an act of anti-semitism. I think it was primarily the act of a gang of fairly ignorant and violent people who thought they could make a quick buck because of their mistaken notion that all Jews were rich.
If they had thought a different group of people were all rich, they would most likely have targeted them as well.
While watching this movie, you basically vicariously experience what it's like to have a family member kidnapped, and one possible way that it could play out. -
jlwalker19-14 September 2020I have seen Schindler's List twice but will probably never watch it again. Saw The Birds Alfred Hitchcock and it creeped me out and will never watch it again. I have seen every kind of movie imaginable, thousands of them.
But this is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen. It seemed like I could feel what every character except the bad guys was feeling. By the last 20 minutes or so I almost cried. But I was in too much shock to even cry. Is there any other way to say it, this movie got to me.
Then to top it all off it ended at my bedtime. Don't think I will be able to sleep.
A gripping story, so realistic you feel like you are a part of it. The acting is just incredible. Been watching French movies for a good while and I like them better than what comes out of Hollywood. At least in this century.
You should try and make it through this entire movie because it tells such an important story. Anyone who may deny that Anti-Semitism exists anymore should watch it. Or anyone who knows it still exists.
Yes we may watch movies to escape reality but every once in a while we need to watch a real movie about real people to get a dose of true reality, to shake us out of our comfort zone. We need to pull our heads out of the sand and our fantasy world and experience some realism. It is cathartic for the soul. -
This film went beyond the thriller and the police procedural genres. I was caught up in the pain and frustration experienced by the family, and the dedication and parallel frustration of the police. The criminal behavior did not always make sense, but then again, many criminals - especially the ones who are caught - have a difficult time thinking clearly. I thought the story was well told. I felt for the kidnapped boy and for his family for all they endured.
The ending with the focus on anti-semitism did surprise me. I thought the criminals targeted the family primarily because they assumed Jews are all rich. Clearly they did not respect their victims as human beings to be valued, but isn't that what criminals do. They are predators. I am not a Jew, so I will defer to the writers of the film's ending. It might be so, and the voices of victims of violence and oppression should be heard.