Urbex Sessions
- TV Movie
- 2015
- 27m
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Discover amazing abandoned and forgotten places of Belgium visited by urban explorers, photographers and artists-sportsmen.Discover amazing abandoned and forgotten places of Belgium visited by urban explorers, photographers and artists-sportsmen.Discover amazing abandoned and forgotten places of Belgium visited by urban explorers, photographers and artists-sportsmen.
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An introduction to the Belgian "urbex" phenomenon
My native country of Belgium is, for good and for evil, host to a wide range of abandoned buildings. Wallonia, for instance, boasts many reminders of an extensive industrial and mining past. Many of the said buildings just stand there decaying, whereas, in a more just or well-ordered society, they might have been demolished, converted towards another function or turned into museums. Still, there are those among us who are not insensitive to the charm of ruins. Belgium has its abandoned and decaying buildings but it also has its "urban explorers". In fact we've got so many urban explorers that they've split up in various factions and subgroups.
"Urbex sessions" is a French-language documentary that lifts the veil on some of the urban exploration going on in the southern part of the country. It's a pleasantly watchable introduction to the activities of those people who like to potter around in abandoned buildings, for instance in order to take photographs, organize artistic happenings or perform sports such as parkour. The documentary also highlights some of the buildings involved. Unsurprisingly, many of the places being shown would make ideal settings for thriller, science fiction or horror movies.
The various interests being discussed in "Urbex sessions" seem innocent enough, but it needs to be said that there is another side to the coin. Some so-called explorers delight in activities like vandalism, theft and sabotage. Still others just want the kick of doing something forbidden or illegal.
But even the people who only want to take a nice picture of a tree growing through a roof run considerable risks to life and limb. While watching the documentary I asked myself whether the various makers shouldn't have included more warnings about the said risks. (By now there have been a number of serious accidents in real life.) Still, it's possible that these additional warnings might have piqued the interest of a certain type of aficionado. I leave the matter to the professional psychologists among us...
Viewers responsive to the weird beauty of decay can take a look at the remarkable "Paradis de rouille" series. (Wrote a short review there too.)
"Urbex sessions" is a French-language documentary that lifts the veil on some of the urban exploration going on in the southern part of the country. It's a pleasantly watchable introduction to the activities of those people who like to potter around in abandoned buildings, for instance in order to take photographs, organize artistic happenings or perform sports such as parkour. The documentary also highlights some of the buildings involved. Unsurprisingly, many of the places being shown would make ideal settings for thriller, science fiction or horror movies.
The various interests being discussed in "Urbex sessions" seem innocent enough, but it needs to be said that there is another side to the coin. Some so-called explorers delight in activities like vandalism, theft and sabotage. Still others just want the kick of doing something forbidden or illegal.
But even the people who only want to take a nice picture of a tree growing through a roof run considerable risks to life and limb. While watching the documentary I asked myself whether the various makers shouldn't have included more warnings about the said risks. (By now there have been a number of serious accidents in real life.) Still, it's possible that these additional warnings might have piqued the interest of a certain type of aficionado. I leave the matter to the professional psychologists among us...
Viewers responsive to the weird beauty of decay can take a look at the remarkable "Paradis de rouille" series. (Wrote a short review there too.)
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- myriamlenys
- May 4, 2024
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- Urbex Belgium
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- Runtime27 minutes
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