In the latest Dardenne brothers movie, a young Arabic boy gets indoctrinated by a local Imam's teachings and tries to commit a heinous act.
A film filled with tense moments that very much feels organic and attuned to the rest of their filmography. "Young Ahmed" will no doubt cause a stir, and it already has if you’ve read some of the reviews that were just published amid its Cannes premiere yesterday, but don't be fooled by the political biases of some, this is top-notch work from the Dardennes, filled with their usual birds-eye-view camerawork, solid acting from nonprofessionals and a searing screenplay which builds up the tension with every scene.
Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi) has drastically changed these last few months, his mother has seen the religious beliefs in her son significantly raised ever since a local imam (Othman Moumen) took him under his wings, teaching him daily about the Quran. Now Ahmed has been softly radicalized, criticizing his mom for drinking, his sister for wearing short sleeves, his brother for not being a devout-enough Muslim, but most disturbingly, disrespecting his school teacher Madame Ines (Miriam Akheddiou), because she is now dating a Jew and believes Islam should be modernized, adapting to an ever-changing 21st century.
This radicalization sets off a series of events which leads to Ahmed's obsession in committing jihad by killing Madame Ines. A bold and bracing statement from the Dardennes that, like their very best work, has the pulse pounding urgency of a great action movie, the film will most likely be panned for the wrong reasons.
The Dardennes are the most influential European filmmakers of the last 20 years, their social-realist handheld camera style has become a sort of cliche for the Euro arthouse world, but why complain that the developers of a certain style of filmmaking cannot continue making such films? If their last effort, 2016's "The Unknown Girl," felt a little off, "Young Ahmed" is no doubt a unique film in their cinematic oeuvre because it tackles a controversial character that feels relevant to 21st Century realities.
Ahmed is a person that decides to take the more violent side of the Quran's teachings at face value, it doesn't help that his Imam enhances those ideals with his teachings. In one particularly memorable scene, the Imam shows Ahmed a martyr video of a terrorist on YouTube, backed by religious Arabic music, the content has the dead terrorist being celebrated with heavenly lights flashing all around his picture, "you see those lights," says the Imam, "that means his sacrifice has sent him to heaven." The fact that such a religious figure would be able to exhort a hold of influence on Ahmed, a boy that can't be older than 16, is disconcerting to the audience.
Many have pointed out the rather hateful portrayal of Muslims in the film, but fact of the matter is that it isn't entirely hateful as much as propagated by the terrorist attacks which have, sadly, occurred in Europe, and America, this century. And so, even though one should be aware that 99.9% of the Islamic population living in Europe would not necessarily adhere to Ahmed and the Imam's values, there is still that .1% and, for better or for worse, the Dardennes had the audacity to depict it. It's a political and cinematic statement that may age very well in time, with the attacks not showing any signs of stopping, but I sure as hell hope it doesn't. [B+]