A few years ago, I read the novel 'How to be good' by Nick Hornby. As the title suggests, this wonderful book is about being good, and about the problems connected with being good.
Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro reminded me of this book, because the film is also about being good. Michel is a blue collar worker at a company in the port of Marseille, and takes pride in his 'being good'. He has always tried to be a responsible citizen, and is one of the union representatives in his company. When the company has to lay off twenty workers, Michel proposes to organize a lottery and puts his own name on the list, although as a union man he is not obliged to. Michel loses his job, and soon afterward gets robbed in his own house. By coincidence, he learns the identity of the criminals, and they are arrested. The events connected with the robbery make him doubt his own 'goodness'. A confrontation with one of the robbers puts everything he thought to know in a different perspective: Michel recognizes that he has become 'bourgeois'. His supposed 'goodness' turns out quite differently than he thought.
This charming movie turns things upside down and asks interesting questions, but doesn't give clear cut answers. Michel is 'good', but not as good as he thought. And the thief is 'bad', but not as bas as it seems. The story zigzags nicely between the moral dilemmas, and never becomes heavy-handed. The overall tone is upbeat, and especially the end scenes are almost heartbreakingly optimistic.
Director Guédiguian has made a film about ordinary people in their daily lives, and shows us that those lives can be very interesting. Would it be exaggerated to call him the French Mike Leigh?
PS Don't let yourself be put off by the title. The movie never leaves sunny Marseille. The title is merely a reference to a very well-known French song.
Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro reminded me of this book, because the film is also about being good. Michel is a blue collar worker at a company in the port of Marseille, and takes pride in his 'being good'. He has always tried to be a responsible citizen, and is one of the union representatives in his company. When the company has to lay off twenty workers, Michel proposes to organize a lottery and puts his own name on the list, although as a union man he is not obliged to. Michel loses his job, and soon afterward gets robbed in his own house. By coincidence, he learns the identity of the criminals, and they are arrested. The events connected with the robbery make him doubt his own 'goodness'. A confrontation with one of the robbers puts everything he thought to know in a different perspective: Michel recognizes that he has become 'bourgeois'. His supposed 'goodness' turns out quite differently than he thought.
This charming movie turns things upside down and asks interesting questions, but doesn't give clear cut answers. Michel is 'good', but not as good as he thought. And the thief is 'bad', but not as bas as it seems. The story zigzags nicely between the moral dilemmas, and never becomes heavy-handed. The overall tone is upbeat, and especially the end scenes are almost heartbreakingly optimistic.
Director Guédiguian has made a film about ordinary people in their daily lives, and shows us that those lives can be very interesting. Would it be exaggerated to call him the French Mike Leigh?
PS Don't let yourself be put off by the title. The movie never leaves sunny Marseille. The title is merely a reference to a very well-known French song.