Sight&Sound - 05.2020

(Jacob Rumans) #1
May 2020 | Sight&Sound | 39

then at 17, I bought my first video camera and began
filming my neighbourhood.
EL: Some of the other Kourtrajmé members have moved
towards music videos and work outside the banlieue, but in
your short films, you focus on the banlieue in a documen-
tary style. Why this desire to stay?
LL: Because that is where I am from. Unlike my friends
from Kourtrajmé who live in Paris, I grew up in the ban-
lieue, in Montfermeil. It’s very dear to my heart, and there
are so many stories to tell there that I’ve made it my spe-
cialty, in a way. Or at least, what I know of it. And there is
also an urgency to this. There are so many issues to tackle
that I think I could make films about the banlieue for at
least ten more years.
EL: The short films you made with Kourtrajmé were posted
online. Was this a choice, or out of necessity?
LL: A kind of cinema had to emerge somewhere, because
we’re not on producers’ radars or financed by any organ-
isations. There comes a point where we have to do it all
ourselves. Kourtrajmé was born because we couldn’t rec-
ognise ourselves in French cinema. So we decided to make
our own films, with our own stories, our own actors.


It just so happened that, when we started making
films, it was the very beginning of the digital age. Digital
cameras had just appeared and for the first time, people
had access to the internet at home. We realised that the
internet was a great space to broadcast our films. Daily-
motion and YouTube didn’t exist yet. We had a Kourtra-
jmé website where we would post our videos, and they
would be very successful. I’ve always held on to this
concept where I would make my films independently.
Even my documentaries, they were always censored by
TV channels, they didn’t want them as they were, so I put
them online for free. I never made money with my films,
and I always worked that way.
EL: Why the decision to include and to start with the police-
men’s point of view?
LL: I wanted to surprise the audience. With all the work
that I’ve done, no one expected me to tell this story from
the perspective of the policemen. It’s the surprise of
making a film that does not take sides and does not judge,
only presents a situation as justly as possible. That’s also
what makes the film strong: it describes a reality.
It was important for us to say that the ‘misérables’

‘ I grew up in


the banlieue, in


Montfermeil.


It’s very dear to


my heart. There


are so many


issues to tackle


I could make


films about the


banlieue for ten


more years’


GOOD COPS, BAD COPS:
PLAYING THE POLICEMEN IN ‘LES MISERABLES’

The three actors who play the policemen
in Les Misérables had very different levels
of experience before shooting – though all
three reprise the roles they played in Ly’s
short film of the same name from 2017.
Some may recognise Damien Bonnard
from his appearance in Alain Guiraudie’s
Staying Vertical (2016), among other French
films. In Les Misérables, he plays Pento, the
rookie cop from the provinces. It isn’t long
before he clashes with his new colleague
Chris, a macho hothead who knows the
neighbourhood inside out. Chris is played
by Alexis Manenti, who won the Most
Promising Actor award for his performance
at this year’s César Awards, and is credited
as one of the film’s writers. The last of the
trio is Gwada, played by relative newcomer
Djebril Zonga. Having worked alongside
Chris for some time, Gwada is used to
his bad temper, but the events of the film
force him to reconsider his attitudes.
Elena Lazic: How did each of you
prepare for your roles?
Damien Bonnard: I observed cops on the
street, in videos. I read books and watched
documentaries. But because policemen
are subject to the duty of confidentiality,
there isn’t that much information out
there, so I had to create my own character.
I rewatched Sidney Lumet’s Serpico [1973],
which was important. We met a policeman
to learn the more technical moves.
Alexis Manenti: For me, it was mostly
based on podcasts, videos, films. I
found more inspiration in fictional

characters. I stole phrases and
attitudes from characters in films.
EL: How different was the experience of
making the feature to making the short film,
given the rise in public anger and protests, and
criticism of policing methods, in France since
Emmanuel Macron became president in 2017?
Djebril Zonga: We knew we would be
touching the zeitgeist anyway, because
unfortunately these [acts of police brutality]
are things that happen quite often. When we
were making the short film, there was the
Théo affair [the alleged rape of a young man,
Théo Luhaka, by police in the Rose-des-Vents
neighbourhood in Aulnay-sous-Bois, north-
east of Paris]. Now we have the yellow vests
[gilets jaunes], and in the film, there are orange
vests... There was an instance of police
brutality during the yellow-vests protests
that was very similar to the one in the film.
DB: It used to be that only the banlieues
were concerned with police violence, but
with the yellow vests, it has expanded
everywhere, so now everyone cares.

EL: What do you think of your role as an
actor in such a politically engaged film?
DB: It’s positive in the sense that it makes
people think, and change what they think
they know. Before it even affected viewers,
it affected me. It made me more attentive.
DZ: There are people living in Paris who don’t
know what’s happening in the banlieues,
so it’s good that it has some impact here, in
France. I didn’t realise at first, but because of
the film’s strength, we automatically have a
responsibility. I felt that especially because
I grew up in the banlieue like Ladj. The film
gives us a platform to express ourselves.
AM: People ask us political questions
during interviews. We have responsibilities
despite ourselves – we’ve been given
a voice. But we’re often asked to give
answers when, really, we are here to ask
the questions. If I had the solutions, I
wouldn’t be here. I would be in an office,
with secretaries, giving orders...
EL: What has the reaction to the film
been like in other countries?
DB: In Los Angeles, where there have been
really violent protests, people were very
moved. In lots of countries, in Egypt, and
even in different cities in France, it resonates
with people. The film says something
universal about childhood, the dreams
we have achieved or which were out of
our reach, the way we grew up too fast... It
echoes with people’s personal histories.
AM: There’s a paradox – people
say it’s universal, and then: “But
(FROM LEFT) BONNARD, MANENTI AND ZONGA here, this is different...”
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