About as far from being a rousing stage musical as is possible, Les Misérables’ exhilarating, engrossing portrait of war on the streets between a swaggering anti-crime squad and the myriad gangs they are trying to police shared the Jury Prize at Cannes. 
 
In sharp contrast to the opening scenes of a unified France celebrating its 2018 World Cup win on the Champs-Élysées, the film takes place in a troubled Paris suburb over the course of a tightly-wrought couple of days, recalling Training Day with its portrayal of compromised cops, the crossing of ethical lines and the conscience of a newcomer. 

But director Ladj Ly’s rendition of the drug and poverty stricken banlieues of working-class France is less Hollywood and more naturalistic à la The Wire, with astonishing performances by everyone from his three lead thugs to the indignant crooks, beleaguered immigrant families and children caught in the crossfire.  

Ly’s fifteen-year career in documentary, focusing on socio-political issues arising from events such as the 2005 Paris riots, clearly informs his approach to this fictional, but all-too-relevant, tale. Les Misérables is his first dramatic feature, but his realist fingerprints are all over it, notably in a key plot point which remarkably derives from autobiographical experience.  
 
Complex in its morality, lacking judgement of its characters, Les Misérables is a high-energy, contemporary musing on the problems explored by Victor Hugo over 150 years ago. 
 

For the full NZIFF programme visit nziff.co.nz