Created by Romain Gravas, the new Netflix film has an extraordinary opening, but the author says he doesn’t see it as a “sociological study”
SPECIAL FOR THE STATE – In the first 15 minutes of athenaFrench film Romain Gavras which debuts today at Netflixthe spectator is at the center of a protest that begins in a police station and continues, kilometers ahead, in a housing project on the outskirts of Paris, where teenagers, children of immigrants, organize themselves to resist the arrival of the Traffic Police revolt .
It is an opening that vibrates and almost makes the audience feel the heat and smell of smoke. And this raises a question: how the hell did they do it? At least, that’s what went through the minds of the hundreds of reporters who attended last year’s press session Venice Festivalwhere the function was competing.
“I didn’t have gray hair before,” Gavras said in an interview with Estadio, to Venice. Introduced in 2022, many would say: it’s computer graphics. Hand. “I don’t like CGI, green screen. I really wanted to do it, it’s a lot more fun,” said the director. “I think the audience senses when there is real danger and when the camera does things that can only be CGI.” He is right. At no time can there be any doubt that this is happening there.
Gavras, the crew and cast – led by Dali Benssalah, as policeman Abdel, and Sami Slimane, as Karim, his brother and leader of the riot -, in addition to the hundreds of extras, rehearsed extensively for weeks. There are cars, motorcycles, fireworks, scenographic bullets. And the opening scene looks like a long take – it’s not, but the takes was really long.
Movement
This required operators, for example, to enter one door of the police van, exit another, pass the camera to another operator, disconnect the Steadicam, carry it in hand, get on a motorcycle, pass it to a other person connecting. to a drone. To complicate matters, the film was shot in IMAX, with a giant camera, “the size of a refrigerator,” as Gavras said.
The idea for the film came from a conversation between the director and his childhood friend, fellow director Ladj Ly (from The miserable). “We talked a lot about what it would be like to be in the middle of the spark that ignites the whole country. It was like being in a riot that hasn’t happened yet,” Gavras said.
In history, the trigger of the rebellion of the little children of immigrants, isolated from the rest of society for their traits, their origins, their culture and yours religionit is the murder, presumably by the police, of a 13-year-old brother of Abdel and Karim – and there is yet another, Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), who is a drug dealer.
But what do you mean by four brothers? Gavras explained that he wanted to be based on a real context, but to elevate it to an almost mythological level. “It’s like a Greek tragedy, full of symbolism,” said he, the son of a Greek and a French woman. “I couldn’t see the movies from disney when I was a child, but I listened to Greek myths and tragedies. Instead of Snow White, I heard of a mother eating her children, of a man killing her father and marrying her mother. “
The director somehow rejects the political film label. “My father always says something I agree on: everything is political,” said he, son of director Costa-Gavras, known for productions such as Z And Missing – A great mysterywhich has to do with American “soft power”.
He is not afraid to contribute to any stigmatization of these young people, even if he is concerned about changing the name of the housing project where he filmed: there is no Athena in the Parisian suburbs. “I don’t see characters as sociological studies. I’m trying to make a good film. My responsibility is to create images, preferably never seen before,” he said. It is clear in Athena that this is his main concern. In the background is the dramaturgy.
But Romain Gavras doesn’t even believe that cinema has that much power to change someone’s political views. “I know it’s crazy to say, being the son of who I am. But the world hasn’t improved since my father started doing cinema. It is only important to make films that you believe in and that have a point of view. But it’s the politicians who change the world, not the directors. “
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Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
