Young Ahmed: The Darney Brothers' new film remains the world's highest level of realism

Lyla 2022-03-11 08:01:38

First published in Adventure Movies

The level of the Darnay brothers' normal play is also a very classic Darnay movie. The audiovisual is almost perfect, and the training of non-professional actors is also outstanding. The film is easy to be compared with "The Bicycle Boy", not only because it is a juvenile theme, but also uses a similar stalk (falling from a height, but this stalk was actually used in "One Promise"... …).

△Dane brothers and the two protagonists of "Young Ahmed" in Cannes

The film tells the story of Ahmed, a middle-schooler who is trying to become a devout Muslim. He is influenced by extremist ideology and believes that the female teacher who teaches Arabic courses in the local area is "not pure enough and must be purged". Sent to a juvenile detention center and received labor education (a similar plot also appeared in "Son"), he still never forgets this idea, trying to find an opportunity to assassinate the female teacher...

The story sounds sensational, and the film also has a strong dramatic conflict. At the same time, the play and audio-visual are highly unified, and a very strict principle of the presence of the narrator is adopted. The characteristics of the characters in the performance are that Ahmed keeps his head down and avoids the real eye contact; and under this principle, the story is extremely simple, and the information control is also very precise, and only the necessary information is cut off all the branches (it should be the most ruthless scissors in Darney's work. ), but still brilliantly links extremist Muslim issues to adolescence rebellion, family issues (parental divorce), Muslim community survival and cultural conditions (even including Muslim diversity), the spread of extremist ideas on the Internet, class background ( The main occupation of the imam with extreme thoughts is to run a small supermarket...), and even the social institutional system for the transformation of juvenile delinquents, etc., and so on.

In terms of audio-visual, it is the unparalleled Danet-style realism method. The well-designed hand-held long lens + natural light effect + no music (only music is available in the end credits), in a sense, the audio-visual completion is even better than "The Bicycle Boy" ... Ahmed's prayer becomes the film's metronome. His actions to assassinate the female teacher and whether he can be "transformed" through education have become two clues that reinforce each other in the play. With the accumulation of contradictions, At the end, Ahmed, who escaped from the social worker, prepared nails and tried to sneak into the female teacher's room through the window, but he fell and fell. He was seriously injured and moved to the window with difficulty. When he saw the female teacher, he couldn't help but say "please forgive me". The scene is comparable to the end of Rosetta (gas can), and the end of The Child ('The Tears of the World'), and it does an excellent job of maintaining a sense of ambiguity - Ahmed's Is the apology out of experiencing the (unintelligible) fear of death? Has he "changed"? The audience can't confirm that.

However, the film can not be called perfect, except that the branches are cut too hard (there is a lot less emotional shaping, which is better for "Rosetta" and "The Son"), mainly because Ahmed is transformed The girl from the farm family is really inexplicable, she (unreasonably and suddenly) has a crush on Ahmed and (forcibly) kisses him, which makes Ahmed very upset (this There's a great conversation there). This plot is really lacking foreshadowing and too functional, and the play is obviously to make Ahmed undergo a major test (sex/love), intensify his emotions, and do it for the escalating "test of life and death" at the end bedding. In this sense, Ahmed "never wavered" before was too unreasonable, even in the face of his mother's tears of despair. It might have been better if the trick focused more on how Ahmed pretended to be trying to pass the assessment of the transformation system, rather than being stimulated by this (unconvincing) event.

In short, this film has maintained the high standard of the Darney brothers. Those who say that this film is probably not thinking that the Darney brothers are repeating themselves, or they hate realist films. Compared this year, the level of this film is also much better than that of Ken Loach.

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Extended Reading
  • Jaquelin 2022-03-17 09:01:10

    #72nd Cannes# Best Director Award! ! ! The level of the Darnay brothers' normal play is also a very classic Darnay movie. The audiovisual is almost perfect, and the training of non-professional actors is also outstanding. Excellently links extremist Muslim issues to adolescence rebellion, family issues (parental divorce), Muslim community survival and cultural conditions (even including Muslim diversity), the spread of extremist ideas on the Internet, class background (Ima with extremist ideas) The main purpose is to run a small supermarket...), and even the social institutional system for the transformation of juvenile delinquents, etc. It is quite clear. In terms of audio-visual, it is the unparalleled Danet-style realism method. The well-designed hand-held long lens + natural light effect + no music (only music is available in the end credits), in a sense, the audio-visual completion is even better than "The Bicycle Boy" . Of course, there are still problems with the play, and there are long reviews.

  • Einar 2022-04-24 07:01:25

    70/100 The director chose the topic of the second generation of extremist Muslims, but almost avoided talking about its causes, which was a bit rushed. Of course, I understand that this pit is very complicated and difficult to fill. The story of the film is mixed with realistic parts and conjectures and idealizations. It is good-looking, but the content slightly lives up to the theme.