Wow! Such a good movie.

I'll tell you why so serious

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I recently viewed this movie on Netflix and was struck by the impression that a movie with a similar plot and circumstances would probably not be produced in the US or the UK. Kudos to the makers of this film who had the courage to tell a true story that most people probably were never aware of and where the characters involved do not fit a preferred template. Most foreign-made movies I've seen on Netflix often are superior to American films in both content and acting, primarily because they are devoid of Hollywood scripting/acting where characters mechanically spew their lines with no reflection of authentic human character or realism.

Saw this in the UK Jewish Film Festival, where we were told Arcady had a job getting this film financed. It's extremely well made and acted: if, as one reviewer wrote, it was a huge flop, it didn't deserved to be. However, box-office failure would be understandable, since the French presumably knew the story well and wanted to be entertained rather than harrowed. One thing I didn't quite understand was the judge's ruling that this was an anti-Semitic crime. Apart from the obvious, pedantic point that most of the gang were Arabs (and Semites themselves) it's obvious that their motivation was financial. This bunch of half-wits had the idea that all Jews are filthy rich, then seized a young man whose family were nowhere near able to come up with the 450,000 euros they wanted. If their motivation had been hatred of Jews they would have just tortured and killed the poor lad. As the weeks went by and their frustration grew, their behaviour got more and more violent and they even stopped feeding him. The leader of the gang was particularly repellent.

I didn't realize that there were so many anti-Jewish people on IMDb who could not get passed the fact that the victim was Jewish. I would feel badly toward any type of victim out there, Arab, Jewish, Black, Asian, or even White.I agree with the person who wrote that people were judging the film on its merit without even watching it. I thought that it was very well acted. It managed to be suspenseful even to people who knew the outcome of the events, which is a difficult feat.If you have a chance see this film which will give you a slice of history.

Inspired from actual events that occurred in France, back in 2006, and with the very same names, this story tells us the tragic fate of a Young Jewish man who has been abducted, tortured and then killed by a bunch of petty hoods. Garbage punks who also succeeded in jeopardizing the police force in search for them. During nearly three weeks. Not bad for garbage punks. They were all lead by a french and Africa native man, who monitored all the affair from Ivory Coast, his fatherland. This movie is taut, sharp, very well made and also edited in such a way that you are glued to your seat all long the feature. Emotions are amazingly shown. Terrific. All actors are here at their best. A flawless film where Alexandre Arcady gives here also his very best. I only hope that if, instead of a Jewish man, it would have been an Aran - Muslim - who had been the victim, and perpetrated by extremists zionists, I hope that would have been shown with the same strenght. In a so powerful way. I just hope...