Black (2015)

Black: Directed by Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah. With Sanâa Alaoui, Martha Canga Antonio, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Sanaa Bourrasse. A 15-year-old girl in a black gang in Brussels must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang. The city of Brussels, plagued by high rates of youth unemployment, is home to nearly forty street gangs, and the number of young people drawn into the city’s gang culture increases each year. It’s in this criminal milieu that directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah set Black, a pulse-pounding contemporary take on a Shakespearean tragedy. Worlds collide when Mavela (Martha Canga Antonio), a teenage girl with ties to Brussels’ Black Bronx gang, meets Marwan (Aboubakr Bensaihi), a member of a rival Moroccan gang, at a police station. Keenly aware of the consequences of getting involved with someone from another gang, they at first resist their attraction to one another, but they can only resist for so long. Just when they’ve started to imagine a different life for themselves, a terrifying incident reminds Mavela where she belongs – and, more precisely, to whom. In order to break free, Mavela and Marwan will have to betray the very loyalties on which their gangs are founded. And they know what lies ahead for them if they don’t. El Arbi and Fallah’s film moves forward at an electrifying pace, with furious energy and a gritty realism reminiscent of epic gangster films like City of God and Goodfellas. Ricocheting from moments of extreme tenderness to scenes of extreme violence, and enhanced by the raw performances of its young leads, Black is a full-on, no-holds-barred experience that will resonate long after you’ve left the cinema.

“u0026#39;Yes, I read books by Shakespeareu0026#39;, says a young gang member jokingly when he is interrogated by the police. Without doubt, this scene in u0026#39;Blacku0026#39; is meant as a little innuendo. The film is the latest cinematographic adaptation of Shakespeareu0026#39;s play u0026#39;Romeo and Julietu0026#39;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;Blacku0026#39; is set in Brussels, where territories are divided between Moroccan street gangs and rival gangs of black Africans. When Moroccan teenager Marwan is waiting in the police station after having been arrested for theft, he meets the pretty African girl Mavela, who is caught for the same reason. They exchange telephone numbers, and start an affair. Because they are members of different gangs, this is enough reason for an exchange of violent attacks by the gangs. Several girls are gang raped or forced to participate in holdups, the boys organize gang fights.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is very fast-paced and dynamic, capturing the inner city gang life with dark, sinister images and impressive establishing shots, making Brussels look like an urban jungle not much different from the Bronx or Compton.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut beneath this succession of beautiful shots, there is not much substance. The screenplay doesnu0026#39;t contain much suspense because everyone knows the Romeo and Juliet storyline. The dialogue consists mostly of four letter words. The characters are mostly one-dimensional. All white cops are sadistic racists, all black men are heartless machou0026#39;s, all girls are sexy and submissive. The film makers miss the opportunity to develop interesting characters, like Mina, a policewoman of Moroccan descent. We never learn how she copes with being hated by members of her own ethnic group.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn view of the Paris attacks of November 13th, the film has an interesting extra dimension. The Moroccan street gang is named u0026#39;1080u0026#39;, which is the zip code for Molenbeek, the quarter in Brussels where the atrocities were being prepared and planned. You canu0026#39;t help but think that Marwan could just as well have been one of the attackers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother interesting thing are the subtle references to Belgian linguistic squabbles. From time to time, Marwan and Mavela switch from French to Dutch, but purely in a mocking way. They hate the Flemish policemen who address them in Dutch, and when Marwan tells his imprisoned brother that he wants to start a legitimate garage business, he is accused of being u0026#39;Flemishu0026#39;. Knowing that both directors are from Flanders, this is a nice pun.”