The cinema of resistance

Naturalistically shot, impeccably constructed, uncompromising and emotionally searing, the Dardenne brothers' films give voice to a population often despised or ignored: illegal aliens, slumlords, corrupt officials and small-time criminals. To their characters the brothers bring a compassionate view born of the understanding that this underclass has, in part, been created by society's higher-ups. These are figures of limited material and social means who, under the most dire circumstances, must grapple with life-and-death decisions. And though the pair might deny it, their films also suggest an ingrained Christian vision through insisting on the transformative possibility of the most debased being. Le Silence de Lorna, their latest portrait, which premiered at Cannes, failed to elicit the rapturous response received by some of the earlier work, such as the 2005 Palme d'Or winner L'Enfant/The Child. Yet despite an exposition that some found lengthy, the Dardennes bring great resonance to this fable

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Fable · Literature · Movie theater · Population · Portrait · Psychoanalysis · Silence · Sociology · Transformative learning · Underclass · Anthropology · Cinema and Media Studies · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Psychology