In Belgium, a teenager and a young boy, come from Africa by boat, have only their unfailing friendship to survive the difficult conditions of their exile.
Posted at 8:30 a.m.
Are the Dardenne brothers victims of their success? Each film that the duo has been offering for a few years inevitably leads to a kind of weariness on the part of certain moviegoers. Of course, the Belgian filmmakers will denounce injustices in a new feature film and highlight revolting situations. Of course, they will be selected at the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, they will win a prize there. In some circles, this quasi-systematic side becomes too predictable to be exciting. It would be wrong, however, to miss what, from one film to another, constitutes one of the most substantial cinematographic works of our time. And most useful.
Tori and Lokitawinner on the Croisette of a “prize of 75e » specially created for the occasion, is certainly no exception to the rule. Faithful to their habit of aiming their camera at the marginalized and the invisible in society, the directors of Rosetta and of the child, two feature films with gold medals, this time focus on the fate of those known as “mena children” (“unaccompanied foreign minors”). To do this, they always borrow their quasi-documentary approach by recreating on the screen a harsh reality, but this time they put an element of suspense.
We will thus follow the journey of Tori (formidable Pablo Schils), a 12-year-old boy from Africa, and his big “sister” Lokita (Joely Mbundu), four years his senior. In addition to having to survive in a society where no one gives them a gift, the two young migrants face administrative hostility and inevitably fall into the hands of malicious exploiters. While evoking the deplorable conditions in which these exiles find themselves, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne also describe a great story of friendship and solidarity, the only defenses on which the two protagonists of this story can rely. And it’s beautiful.
Drama
Tori and Lokita
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
With Pablo Schils, Joely Mbundu, Alban Ukaj
1:28