CIFF 2011: Le Havre

Le Havre won top honors at CIFF 2011.  While I agree it was a fine film, I am not in agreement that it was the best film there this year. It's still an arthouse film that falls validly and easily into award territory.  This is another in a line of proletariat dramas from Finnish director Aki Kuarismaki (whose best work in my opinion is The Man Without a Past, a big prizewinner itself in 2003).  It is less bleak than some of his other films like The Match Factory Girl or Lights in the Dusk.  It tells the story of a aging shoeshine man who helps a young African refugee in the harbor town of Le Havre, France.

The film begins as illegal African immigrants are captured by authorities, with young Idrissa escaping by jumping into the harbor, hoping to be able to cross to England. 

We can see that modern times are no longer subsidizing Marcel's shoeshine business--everyone wears sneakers now--and he and his wife Arletty are barely surviving hand to mouth.  One day Marcel sees some evidence of Idrissa hiding nearby, while he'sbeing asked by an immigration officer if he's seen any signs of the boy.  Putting two and two together, Marcel shelters Idrissa illicitly, even without his wife's knowledge.  This is easier when Arletty has to go to the hospital for some serious surgery.

The hand to mouth existence seems to be the case of those around his neighborhood too.  But these people find it easy to help Idrissa and Marcel, even as Arletty herself hides the seriousness of her condition to her husband.  With his neighbors' help, Marcel works to get Idrissa away from Le Havre and into England where relatives are ready to take him in. 

The film, like many of Kaurismaki's others, has very deadpan and dry humor which contrasts to the bleakness of the stories of the people it depicts.  It also has the gorgeous look of his other films, a great soundtrack and the same static camera as in his other films.

The relationship between Marcel and Idrissa can be interpreted as one of father and son, yet Marcel's actions can also be taken as that of the oppressed finding a way to break out of his oppression through helping someone else.  The small work he has done to help Idrissa lightens his situation, even in briefly and temporarily.