Black, 2015.
Directed by Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah.
Starring Martha Canga Antonio, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Jeremie Zagba and Sanaa Bourassa.
SYNOPSIS:
Two teenagers belong to street gangs in Brussels. Originally from Africa, the girl is in Black Bronx, while the boy is Moroccan and belongs to the gang called 1080. When the two fall in love, they have to keep their relationship under wraps because their respective gangs are sworn enemies. So when they’re discovered, the consequences are serious.
Black marks the arrival of a directing double act from Belgium. Complete with a thunderous bang. Not that the film is Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah’s debut – they have another one, Image (2014) under their belt as well – but this is one the one that made their names at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. And Hollywood came calling in the shape of Beverly Hills Cop 4.
It’s easy to see why. They’ve taken one of the theatre’s most familiar stories, Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet, and set it among the street gangs of Brussels. It’s not the first time the star crossed lovers have been transplanted into another time and place and it won’t be the last. El Arbi and Fallah make no apologies for it: instead, they make it resonate with their audience, regardless of where they are. Added to the mix are a pair of Young Adult novels from Dirk Bracke, Black and Back, but don’t, whatever you do, expect a YA film. This is seriously adult territory and the 18 certificate makes that transparently clear.
It’s an uncompromising portrait of the Brussels teenage underworld – unsettling, menacing and utterly compelling. But the one thing it’s not is untidy. These are two directors who know their cinema history and who tell their story with huge discipline, confidence and style. The murder of Nancy in David Lean’s Oliver Twist (1948) reverberates throughout the scene where Mavela (Martha Canga Antonio) is locked in a cupboard, frantically screaming and banging on the door to get out, because a rape is taking place on the other side.
The narrative techniques are intelligent and striking, especially when the police round up the gang members after a bust-up. Every single one of them has a cover story and we’re given one sentence from each of them. It’s all we need, we can see that the police are banging their heads against metaphorical brick walls and the story keeps its foot on the throttle. And menace is built with deceptive simplicity: the victim is isolated in the middle of the screen, the attackers emerge one by one from the shadows until they’re close enough for their prey to realise they’re there. But by then it’s too late.
Authenticity runs in the film’s blood, the result of extensive research by the two directors – hours of police ridealongs in Brussels and experience of the young people forced into joining the city’s many gangs. The actors were all streetcast from the local neighbourhoods and deliver some great performances, Martha Canga Antonio in particular, who makes her screen debut as Mavela. Her eyes are huge and expressive and her petite, almost delicate stature belies her courage and will to survive.
Raw, gritty, a streetwise mix of the contemporary with the classic and all delivered with an electrifying intensity, Black shows us a city shattered into thousands of splinters, with culture, colour and language at the top of the pile. And while that means it’s not always an easy watch, it’s most certainly a worthwhile one.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Freda Cooper – Follow me on Twitter, check out my movie blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Pictures.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published August 16, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
