The first film by French director Ladj Ly, Les misérables, is inspired by the classical work by Victor Hugo as it portrays an explosive story of violence in the poorest suburb of metropolitan France.
So far and so close
Ladj Ly not only takes the name of the film from the famous novel published in 1862 but also a popular format to condemn exploitation in marginal worlds whose daily reality is unknown or pretends to be unknown.
Victor Hugo’s story was as uncomfortable for the prosperous French society of the nineteenth century as the landscape of poverty and police violence portrayed by Ly for the V Republic of President Emmanuel Macron, who confessed he cried when he watched the film.
The film takes place in Montfermeil, not only because Ladj Ly grew up in that community, but also because it is where Victor Hugo placed the meeting between famous Valjean and Cosette.
The film shows the daily abuse by the security forces in a place with huge social tensions and where different organized groups dispute their control.
A shocking social thriller that, like Victor Hugo's famous work, represents a defense of the oppressed and a signal that things have not changed so much at the end of the day.
