No. 28 (2023) NOVEMBER (NOVEMBRE) Palace French Film Festival April. 11th.

 

Film No. 28  (2023)  April 11th.  4:00 PM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 5,   Leederville.

"Obviously we train for this but if the emotional burden is too much, please stand down" (Fred addresses his charges hours after the attacks. It is his initial briefing).

NOMINEE : Best Director (Cedric Jumenez). Best Editing, (Laure Gardette). Cesar Awards; France.

 

On November 13, 2015, Paris experienced a terror attack like no other. A series of systematic shootings by Islamic State terrorists saw 131 citizens slain in several separate locations throughout the city. It was the worst act of terror in Europe since the Madrid Train Bombings in 2004. NOVEMBRE is an exquisite Anti-Terrorist procedural drama depicting the crucial days following the attacks. The "fly by the seat of your pants genre", if there is such a thing, would have NOVEMBRE as one of its flag bearers. 

Fred (Jean Dujardin; THE ARTIST) heads up the squad and is a competent, intelligent commander, alert and on edge, as he combats the new war of our time; terrorism. The opening scene, shot in Athens, pricks our senses to his suspicions of an active cell, and he misses an opportunity to arrest a key perpetrator. Paris may well pay a price for the miss. It does, and Dujarin, with the reassuring look of a young Sean Connery, leads us on our four day, fly on the wall adventure in seeking some justice. 

New French star, Anais Demoustier, plays a young cop, Ines, attached to the unit. She is ambitious and desperate to make an impression. The risky investigative behaviour we witness based on her hunches may well be the spice added to this fictionalized version of events. Her input is key. It works well in the scheme of this chaotic drama. There is a puzzle to be solved within hours, and there are deadlines to meet while the perpetrators remain in the country. NOVEMBRE takes us, with great effect, along this tightrope.

You'll need to be sharp of wit to work through the detail we are confronted with. The sub-titles, essential for an English speaking punter like myself, sprint across the screen with haste. But this is an A grade re-enactment of procedural drama, told in docudrama terms.  Director Cedric Jimenez placed the theme of urgency at the top of the list for his message in NOVEMBRE. He achieved this - you'll see. Don't miss it.  10GUMS.