A tense, morally knotted police-thriller that doubles as a street-level portrait of banlieue life. It’s most effective as a pressure-cooker of escalating conflict, even if its handheld realism and broad moral framing won’t work for everyone.
Stéphane has recently joined the Anti-Crime Squad in Montfermeil, in the suburbs of Paris, France, where Victor Hugo set his famed novel “Les Miserables”. Alongside his new colleagues Chris and Gwada – both experienced members of the team – he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures the encounter, threatening to expose the reality of everyday life.
Director
Ladj Ly
Cast
Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, morally knotted police-thriller that doubles as a street-level portrait of banlieue life. It’s most effective as a pressure-cooker of escalating conflict, even if its handheld realism and broad moral framing won’t work for everyone.
Best for
Viewers who like socially charged crime dramas
Fans of tense ensemble procedurals
People interested in French urban realism
Anyone drawn to films about policing, class, and communal unrest
Skip if
You want a clean hero-villain setup
You dislike handheld, urgent camerawork
You prefer subtle, understated drama over escalating tension
You’re looking for a feel-good or cathartic crime story
Overview
Ladj Ly’s feature debut is built like a fuse: it starts with observation, then keeps tightening the screws until the whole neighborhood feels one spark away from ignition. The film’s greatest strength is its sense of place, capturing the rhythms, jokes, resentments, and improvisations of Montfermeil with a documentary-like immediacy that makes every confrontation feel lived-in rather than scripted.
Worth noting
What makes it compelling is also what makes it divisive. The film is less interested in tidy argument than in sustained pressure, and it often leaves viewers to sit with contradictions in policing, poverty, youth violence, and institutional failure. That ambiguity gives it force, though some may find the character writing a little schematic once the plot turns more overtly explosive.
Bottom line
Even so, it’s a gripping, angry piece of cinema with real momentum and a strong sense of moral unease. If you respond to urban crime dramas that feel raw, urgent, and politically charged, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
demi adejuyigbe (3★) · 774 likes
Honestly just left this movie feeling kind of frustrated, but not in the way Ladj Ly presumably wants me to be. Obviously it’s hard to discuss a film like this without letting your own politics seep into your interpretation, but the film seems to want us left imagining the gradient in both police morality and the morality of minority/poor populations. It tries to depict this scale with a “good cop” protagonist that I didn’t find as likable or right-headed to
Karsten (4★) · 455 likes
My first Cannes film!!! (grace if you’re reading this, sorry for dipping so fast, there was a lot going on) This was fantastic. Such an angry film that really puts its morals in your hands which I appreciate. Some of my favorite films of all time are those that deal with this subject and do so very bluntly, but it’s nice to not be spoon fed how to feel for once. It’s lack of original style is the only thing… more
davidehrlich (3.5★) · 260 likes
Pointedly repurposing the title of Victor Hugo’s classic novel about the laws of nature and grace, Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables” bears little outward resemblance to the epic story of Jean Valjean and his stolen loaf of bread. But Ly’s first narrative feature — a gripping and grounded procedural that probes the tensions between Paris’ anti-crime police and the poor Muslim population they torment and suppress — revisits the French suburb of Montfermeil in the present day, and finds that little
Sean Baker · 217 likes
5th film I saw at VIFF 2019. I found the film to a mash-up of Training Day, La Haine, The Raid and even The Hate You Give. Strong performances across the board with Alexis Manenti stealing the show. The 2019 French submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Watched at Vancouver Playhouse.
allain♡ · 210 likes
Contrary to its title, this is not another film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, but it somewhat carries the same ideologies as the book and it also took place where Victor Hugo wrote the historical and recognizable novel. Les Misérables (2019) depicts an internal turmoil and violence in the suburbs of Paris, where the law is bent and police are like hard-hearted cowboys, willing to do anything to preserve the status quo. The movie was not shy in showing the
Themes
police-community conflict, banlieue life, institutional tension, class inequality, youth unrest, moral ambiguity, escalating violence, social realism
Topics
crime drama, thriller, French cinema, social realism, urban unrest, police procedural, class conflict, handheld cinematography, political tension, ensemble cast