Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jean Dujardin, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anaïs Demoustier, Jérémie Renier, Lyna Khoudri, Cédric Kahn
Intro:
… if you’re into police procedurals, this isn’t a bad one …
November 13 2015 was a horrific day for France, the date of two terrorist attacks which resulted in the murder of 130 people. One was in a football stadium, and the other inside the famous Bataclan concert venue, during a gig. This fictionalised drama actually opens in Athens, where an attempt is made to catch an escapee who’s one of the planners of the tragedy that’s about to occur.
What follows is centred in Paris on the days after the attacks, and the focus is on the desperate – but very professionally co-ordinated – attempts of an anti-terrorist unit to catch the perpetrators. There are mistakes and false leads along the way, but they are (of course) relentless, and seemingly tireless.
Heading the team – though answerable to tough and impatient superiors – is the non-Gallically named Fred (Jean Dujardin), and his top priority is to track down a certain Abdelhamid Abaaoud and his chief accomplice. Some of the suspects have aliases, and actually nomenclature in the broadest sense is a potential problem for the viewer here too. A non-French audience may be confused by the various acronyms for government agencies, and the fact that some details of the events are merely implied. But, having hit the ground running, the story does get better as it slows down and concentrates on a few key characters.
November is well made, and one extended sequence toward the end is visually – and especially aurally – memorable. But its crackerjack cast is rather wasted, because their characters are emotionally ‘buttoned up’. To be fair, that was probably realistic, but combined with the complete omission of the attacks themselves, it makes for a less gripping experience than you’d expect from its subject. Still, if you’re into police procedurals, this isn’t a bad one.
