"Athena"... The civil war in France is the result of a struggle sparked by pent-up anger and injustice

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The protests and demonstrations in the French capital in the recent period have moved to more than one movie. 

One of the most important and well-known is Les Misérables (2019), the first feature film by French director Ludge Ley, who is of African descent (from Mali). 

The film was looking at the causes of the violent events that swept France and were repeated a lot, especially the famous 2005 events, which included the burning and destruction of thousands of cars, and large numbers of young immigrants from the children participated in it.

In the world of social media, a video of the killing of a child of Algerian origin by men in police clothes spreads, and of course anger rages throughout Paris, and in a traditional scene, local authorities hold a press conference led by a trusted face from the community of the betrayed child, his older brother Abdullah, an army man who was called From the service specifically to quell waves of anger.

As for the city "Athena", it is a residential neighborhood consisting of a group of high-rise buildings crowded with people who have been crammed into narrow, tight-knit apartments, in inhumane conditions.

It is, of course, a hypothetical neighborhood in the film that does not have a real presence in Paris, but the film is filmed in a real area on the outskirts of Paris with the place being redesigned and adapted to become a field for violent clashes that will take place between the rebellious youths and the police, with all its repercussions and the sabotage, destruction, explosions and shootings that take place during it. for firearms.

The child who was killed, called "Edir", had three brothers, each with his own position and personality:

The first is Abdelkader, a paratrooper in the French army called to calm the situation, and he cooperates steadfastly with the police despite the great pain caused by the death of his younger brother, he completely rejects violence, and believes in the need to respect the law, and to obtain peacefully justice.

The second is Karim, who sees no benefit in adhering to the law, but rather the necessity of using violence in a final battle with the police, a chaotic trend that has no goal other than revenge, whatever the final price.

As for the third and older brother, he is "Mukhtar" who does not seem to be interested in the matter much, as he is more interested in securing his secret trade, whether in drugs or other things. He is actually the leader of a small gang. But will his position remain that way?

Suddenly, "Karim" throws a Molotov cocktail in the chest of the hall, so it will be the spark that his supporters are waiting for to attack the police, storm its headquarters, plunder its weapons, seize one of its cars and flee with it, barricading behind the barricades and walls of the "Athens" area and turning it into a military barracks in preparation for confronting the riot-dispersal forces that fall in the lot Confused at first, she is unable to stop the sudden assault on the police headquarters and the theft of weapons. But it quickly regains its strength, organizes its ranks, and begins raiding the area.

During the first ten minutes of the film, events do not subside, so we live in a state of tension, and the eyes are attached to Karim's face, as he moves between these crowds, directing orders to organize the ranks and control his men, until they reach their area and are holed up in it, and the young people chant the name of Athena, as if they are summoning The goddess of war to support their angry revolution, and the footage of the region and the rapid movement between it brings to mind scenes from another French movie, "District 13", which also dealt with a story of corruption and racism for the French authority led by a person at the highest level in the state, who seeks to destroy the entire region, and exterminate those in it. as a threat to the state.

Great photography....Free scenes in constant motion

What distinguishes the film most is not its subject matter, but the style of its shooting. The filmmaker and cameraman, Matthias Bocar, follows the details of the first scene, which lasts more than 12 minutes, with a free moving camera that twists and moves from inside to outside, jumping and landing in a long continuous movement, following the details from all sides, to reflect the atmosphere of tension and anger.

This method, of course, requires a good preparation for shooting, distributing light, practicing movement among the groups of secondary actors, and dealing with the terrain of the place with precision. This type of long scenes is what stains the majority of the main movie scenes and gives it its character that makes it close to the (documentary) newspaper films that follow the event as it happens.

This intense vitality in photography is associated with fast pace, quick short shots, capturing minute details from inside the place, and facial expressions, with the distribution of actors in the scope of the place so that the camera becomes part of the action, moves with them, follows them, and vibrates with their vibrations, it is not a neutral camera It monitors remotely from outside the scene; it is part of every scene. We can almost hear the photographer's gasping breath.

Despite the inability of the script to develop the subject, the film remains a strong cinematic statement, warning of the prevalence of racist attacks against people of color, minorities, which threatens a dangerous social division and the resulting repercussions similar to street wars.

What makes the whole film seem convincing, despite the tendency of the plot to fall in the last third of the film with the lack of development of events; Strong acting performance that draws mainly on high-level talent from Dali Bensalah (as Abdo), Wassini Mubarak (as Mokhtar), and new, rising actor Sami Suleiman (as Karim).

also film Athena had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, receiving a 4-minute standing ovation in the process. The French film had people applauding and whooping from the start of the end credits before the crowd stood for the ovation.