A Belgian teenager hatches a plot to kill his teacher after embracing an extremist interpretation of the Quran. Opens Fri, March 6 at Laemmle Royal Theatre 11523 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025.
The Dardenne Brothers won this year’s Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for this brave new work, another intimate portrayal-in-furious-motion of a protagonist in crisis.
The filmmakers’ radical empathy alights on a Muslim teenager (extraordinary first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) in a small Belgian town who has been radicalized by his Imam despite the desperate protestations of his single mother (Claire Bodson), and who winds up hatching a murderous plot targeting his beloved teacher (Myriem Akheddiou). Taking a serious view of a difficult issue—the effect of fanaticism on the body and soul—the Dardennes here remind viewers why they continue to be at the center of 21st-century cinema. – New York Film Festival.
“Belgium’s Dardenne brothers turn out another precisely understated masterpiece… ultimately as humanistic and illuminating as any of their films.” – Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com
“Creat[es] a kind of gut-wrenching suspense that carries through the second half of the picture, right up till its very last scene.” – Peter Debruge, Variety
“The Dardenne brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc are known for their emotional slice-of-Belgian-life dramas, but none of their work can prepare you for gut-punch that is Young Ahmed.” – Emily Kubincanek, Film School Rejects
WINNER:
Best Director – Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection – New York Film Festival
Belgium | 2019 | 84 minutes | Color | French & Arabic w/English subtitles
