| Genre: | Art/Foreign |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Rating: | ? |
| Length: | 93 min |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Cast: | Oliver Gourmet, Jeremie Renier, Assita Ouedraogo |
| Credits: | Directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne |
Synopsis
The third feature from this brother team, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne are central figures in the tiny but lively Belgian filmmaking industry. Aside from their two other fition films, the Dardennes made numerous documentaries with a prevailing interest in the tumultuous history of the labor movement in Belgium during the 1960s and about members of the resistance against the Nazis. Luc Dardenne summarizes their sensibility best when he cites, "Our documentaries were generally about people who said 'no' at a time in their lives when almost everyone around them was saying 'yes'."
The theme of the lone resister is carried into La Promesse, the very moving story of the initiation into ethical awareness of a 15 year-old boy (Igor), who, with his father (Roger) runs an illegal immigrant labor network. When an African laborer is critically injured after falling from a scaffold, Igor is forced to betray his father in order to determine his own moral compass. Winner of 10 major awards internationally and nominated for a Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film, La Promesse is at once, a sharply realistic view of the toll taken by post-industrialism on the conscience of society, and a surprisinly intimate story of a boy's ascendance to grace.
"Directors Luc and Jean-Pierre have cast their urgent story with richly drawn characters who struggle to find their place against the backdrop of a radically changing Europe." - Notes from The New York Film Festival
"An absolute stunner! A week of great power and moral purpose." - Joe Morgenstern, The Wall St. Journal
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