‘Athena’ appears on Netflix – a mortal sin

The banlieue in flames: in Netflix film Athens by Romain Gavras, whathappens for which classic La Haine warned in 1995. In that film, threefriends clash with the police, who behave like an occupying force in theperiphery of Paris. “This is the story of a society in free fall,” prophesied_La Haine_. “Which tells himself on his way to the bottom: so far everythingis going well.”

Ten years later, in 2005, the time had come: a contagious wave of riot,looting and arson swept through the French banlieues after two boys on the runfrom the police died. The harvest: enormous devastation in our ownneighbourhoods, law and order candidate Nicolas Sarkozy as new Frenchpresident.

Filmmaker Ladj Ly filmed the riots in his banlieue Montfermeil in 2005; infeature film debut Les Miserables In 2019, local hotemetotes – shadow mayor,Islamic fundamentalists, criminals – secretly collaborate with the police toremove the fuse from the powder keg after an incident of police brutality.Nobody wants a repeat of 2005. But hate is hard to suppress.

Les Miserables ends, just like La Haine rather, in a question mark: moreviolence or reconciliation? That stage has already passed after two minutes in_Athens_ which Netflix is ​​releasing as a streamer this week – a shame,because this spectacle deserves a large canvas.

Athens is the name of a fictional Parisian banlieue. Images of the murder of13-year-old Idir, apparently by officers, are circulating on social media. Hisbrother Abdel, a soldier, tells the crowd in front of the local police stationto calm down. His hot-tempered, charismatic brother Karim and his friendsimmediately loot weapons, bulletproof vests and shock grenades in a stampedeon the same desk. The battle can begin.

Civil war

That long opening shot of storming and chasing sets the tone: Athens is abloody nervous film in top gear. The camera follows four brothers in longshots through a maze of concrete, Bengal fire, laser pointers, tear gas androckets. In addition to Abdel and Karim, there is the drug criminal Moktar,who consults with his police contacts on how to get his money, drugs andweapons to safety. And the psychotic jihadist Sébastien, who prefers to bloweverything up immediately. On television, the local riots meanwhile appear toescalate into a real civil war.

French filmmaker Romain Gavras (41) is known for energetic music clips andaction comedy Le Monde est a toi (2018). He is a scion of a film family;father Costa-Gavras won an Oscar in 1983 with the political drama Missing.In the 1990s, Romain co-founded the youthful film collective Kourtrajmé, slangfor ‘short film’, which wanted to film for and through the banlieue. __ThroughKourtrajmé, Romain Gavras befriended filmmaker Ladj Ly, who wrote thescreenplay of Athens wrote.

Ladj Ly and Romain Gavras have wanted to work together for twenty years, theysay in the elite hotel Excelsior on the Lido; Athens will premiere at theVenice Film Festival. Ladj Ly: “Our idea was simple: massive street violencein a suburb, which turns into a citadel besieged by the police.”

The battle has mythical contours. The four brothers in the lead roles arearchetypes rather than characters: disciplined conformist Abdel, excited,short-sighted Karim, cynical opportunist Moktar, crazy Sébastien. The storyunfolds like a Greek tragedy in which noble and less noble intentions becomefatally entwined as the flywheel of violence sets in motion.

Gavras: “In a Greek tragedy, everyone has their own will, but fate isstronger. The story is always intimate: brother turns against brother, sonagainst father.” To emphasize that timelessness, Gavras provided the brutalistarchitecture of banlieue Evry, which serves as the backdrop, with quasi-medieval battlements. “You also see the mobile unit going into a kind ofturtle formation with its shields. The real police never do such a thing, Iwas concerned with the association with Roman legions.”

Athens intends to warn. Riots bring the banlieue pure self-destruction. Darkforces benefit from this. That message of self-control rubs against theexciting dynamics of violence, enhanced by threatening march music and sacredchoral singing. His own documentary from 2005 was the visual guideline, saysLadj Ly: “We want you to experience a riot from the inside through the camera.The aim is to nail you to your chair for ninety minutes, with no time forreflection. Overwhelmed by the hectic pace, the urgency.”

But doesn’t that also make violence attractive? If I were younger, I wouldimmediately demolish a bus shelter afterwards, I joke. Gavras, shaking hishead skeptically: “Would you do that? For real? Well, it’s an ancient debate.Do kids riot because they get worked up about video games and drill rap? Itend to see inequality and hopelessness as causes. I also don’t believe thatpeople start smoking because Marlon Brando is so attractive in a movie oryoung people by Scarface going into the cocaine trade.”

stuntmen

According to Gavras, the choreography of the riots required more than twomonths of rehearsal. “I don’t use green screens, and minimal digital trickery.That’s what kids get out of it. fake my daughter then says.” The first roundwas with the actors and a small camera to find the right angles. “Then camethe stuntmen who play the mobile unit. And then the extras.”

These were mainly young people from banlieue Evry. Gavras realized that thingscould get out of hand if they got carried away. “They are kids, they see thepolice before them. It concerns very long shots that have to be done veryoften. At shot 15 they had only warmed up properly, 25 shots was notexceptional. With explosions and fireworks.” Rehearsing helped in that regardas well. “The stuntmen spent weeks teaching the kids their tricks, training,having lunch and chatting together. In this way fighting turned into a dancefor thirty to fifty men who want to spare each other.” Were there anyinjuries? Gavras, laughing: “Define ‘wounded’. Abrasions, bruises and asprained ankle, that is. But nobody missed an eye or a limb afterwards.”