![]() ![]() Yet, that scene aside, the Dardennes can’t be bothered to gesture toward systemic and institutional factors that affect this community both their script and direction remain dedicated to the liberal humanism that has earned the pair praise for the past twenty years. The deceptively polyphonic scene presents an illuminating and engaged look at the very real dilemmas facing a marginalized community, with viewpoints all along the spectrum represented. No, believes the Imam, who sends Ahmed and his cousin as mouthpieces it is heretical to learn Arabic through means other than the Koran. Yes, say some locals they must learn to speak the language fluently in a way that will be useful in their later lives. In its most dynamic scene, the Muslim community holds a town hall-style discussion about whether their schoolteacher should initiate an Arabic course. Like all Dardennes films, it maintains an unremitting focus on its simple story, with details here and there offering insight into a character’s past or living situation. Indeed, similar levels of control and attentiveness are present in Young Ahmed, which depicts the incipient radicalization of a Muslim boy in Belgium and the efforts of a correctional facility to rehabilitate him. It’s the subtle decisions - an unexpected cut to a close-up of Marion Cotillard’s hand preventing someone from changing the radio station in Two Days, One Night or the matter-of-fact tone of the banter between a man and his son’s killer in The Son - that elevate their best films, and the same subtleties garnered them this year’s reward. The Dardennes’s directorial style, generally defined by long-takes, the absence of non-diegetic music, and infrequent close-ups has been short-handed as “realist,” “neo-neorealist,” or “documentarian” depending on the sensibilities of the speaker, but all understate the remarkable control the pair tends to exert over their scripts. ![]() Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are Cannes Film Festival favorites, having premiered all but their first feature at the festival, but Young Ahmed earned them their first Best Director award, joining a Grand Prix, Best Screenplay, and a pair of Palme d’Ors on the mantle. Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, (image courtesy Kino Lorber) ![]()
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