Ladj Ly confirms his talent in the second film of a triptych on the suburbs

After the suburb-police relations in “Les Misérables”, Ladj Ly films the announced demolition of a building where a young woman grew up. A social drama filmed like a thriller.

Wretched revealed a filmmaker, Building 5 confirms it, Ladj Ly knows how to tell and direct stories. He draws from his experience in the suburbs a quasi-antique dramaturgy, filming it in the American style, with dynamism and revivals. The continuity with Wretched goes to the benefit of the film, which we quickly see as the second part of a trilogy of which Ladj Ly has confirmed the filming of the third opus.

Lived from the inside

Active on the municipal council of her commune, Haby learns that the redevelopment of the neighborhood where she grew up includes the demolition of the building where she lives. She beats the drum around her to prevent the young pediatrician who has become mayor of her town from realizing his ambitions.

Social film, therefore political, Building 5 explores the theme of Miserable by approaching it in a different light. From the cops-suburbs equation, Ladj Ly moves on to the inner experience of Haby who undertakes to prevent his living environment from disappearing. There is a metaphysics to such a dilemma. And it is part of Ladj Ly’s talent to convey this dimension in the dynamic staging of an ever-changing daily life, thanks to gripping dramaturgy. Particularly because of the convincing actors and first and foremost the young Anta Diaw, for the first time in a leading role.

Social thriller

The film does not name the city where it takes place, because the drama that plays out there is universal. Haby, from immigration, therefore from uprooting, will be uprooted again. If she manages to mobilize people around her, the fight seems lost in advance. Also, it is not so much its outcome that matters, as the milestones that lead to it and the image that Ladj Ly gives of it. The latter is that of a disconnection between power and citizens, in terms of empathy and dialogue.

The balance of power between the police and residents of Miserable – which ultimately brought their two situations together – is transposed into the administrative side of power, just as political, but even more compartmentalized. What is surprising in Building 5, this is the strength and energy with which Ladj Ly gets the message across. Haby’s journey is led as in a thriller, where a community plunges into the labyrinth of administration as if on the rails of a Great Eight.

The sheet

Gender : Drama
Actors: Anta Diaw, Alexis Manenti, Aristote Luyindula, Steve Tientcheu, Aurélia Petit, Jeanne Balibard, Bass Dhem, Judi Al Rashi
Country : France
Duration : 1h40
Exit : December 6, 2023
Distributer : The pact

Synopsis: Haby, a young woman very involved in the life of her town, discovers the new redevelopment plan for the neighborhood in which she grew up. Led on the sly by Pierre Forges, a young pediatrician who has become mayor, he plans the demolition of the building where Haby grew up. With her family, she launches into a standoff against the municipality and its great ambitions to prevent the destruction of building 5.