Or rather kings like Monir and Ish Aït Hamou, the directors of the film BXL who decided to offer their city what it was lacking: authenticity. I will clarify from the outset by mentioning cinematic authenticity through two prisms: the story and the image.
A sociological perspective on Brussels, cinematic authenticity
Firstly, this is not a cinematographic criticism but rather a sociological perspective on themes that the 7th art has often omitted when it comes to describing our beautiful capital. This film, although imperfect as any first work, is above all an invitation to explore themes often neglected when describing our capital.
A Capital whose voice of its inhabitants has very often been confiscated. We will not return to the previous hazardous works on the big screen which attempted to make Brussels a mini New York resuming fantasies, or even a place where cohabitation is impossible, or even a lawless zone. From the start, we follow a route known to all where the young Karim, on board his bike, places an order at Bilo (the snack bar for real people) to bring it back to his friend Fouad – the protagonist of the film – on a tower of the 5 Blocs passing through mythical places in the Capital.
Moreover, a little wink from the authors who mix aesthetics and political significance: a series of media outings from politicians who literally “spit” on Brussels and its communities accompany Karim’s zero carbon journey against a backdrop of Brel. Masterful.
Symbolism occupies a central place in this work, fully embodying the promise of cinema: to stimulate our imagination and invite us to see beyond the images. And we can say that the bet has paid off: our mind is challenged, titillated, awakened throughout this cinematic journey. Two symbols, in particular, attract attention – yours too, perhaps – in this human adventure.
The first, the wash house, returns like a leitmotif with its immutable cycle, highlighting the key moments of the film. Far from a linear narrative, the story is part of a series of loops, of new beginnings, evoking this perpetual restart of life.
The second, the door to the social apartment of Fouad, Tarek and their mother, becomes a powerful symbolic element. Its difficulty in being replaced – for reasons you will discover or perhaps have guessed – turns it into a veritable metaphorical prison. She embodies confinement, oppression, and this tenuous border with another world, one that requires immense resilience to be reached. We just have to hope that the elevator doesn’t break down to climb this obstacle.
Immersion in the Five Blocks
The scope of the film is not trivial; by filming in the legendary Chicago district with the Five Blocks as its epicenter, the experience of the film will be in raw immersion as opposed to the Dansaert Fashion District, its new cafes… and new cyclists. Far from poverty porn which dictates the narrative attempts of the bourgeois who immerse themselves in poor environments while absolutely seeking to aestheticize crime and poverty, BXL offers a description that invites itself to the viewer in a natural nuance without overplaying. Poverty, precariousness, difficult living conditions, lack of facilities all contribute to the story; they do not institutionalize it.
-A gallery of authentic characters, necessary visibility
The characters also do not deviate from this rule of authenticity, which one might suspect to be the primary criterion for selecting the actors and actresses present. A representativeness in the image of the city, where the characters required a reading of the script and conditions so as not to reproduce stereotypes or participate in yet another cliché on BXL. In addition, the presence of Dutch-speaking actors served as a reminder that our Region is bilingual, providing a significant qualitative contribution. Let’s say it, a real exchange.
We can also salute the fight against the invisibility of racialized people and Muslim women. Racialized people are not tokens or supporting roles, they follow and transmit their reality. Women are warriors, not submissives. Whether it is the mother who goes up the stairs when the elevator is broken, educating her children with dignity, to the mother wearing a headscarf, far from stories often dominated by external perspectives present in feminism, patriarchy or disconnected from local realities, self-determination and self-definition rule the story. Moreover, a small important fact: Brussels is the 2nd most cosmopolitan city in the world with its 60 and some % of people having a foreign origin. How, then, was it still possible to imagine a casting where the narrative could not suit the majority?
Ordinary heroes and human wealth
Finally, the theme of love is central. Whether it takes place in a single-parent family, a wrestling room, a washhouse, a car, in a café… it takes different forms but meets a need; that of loving and feeling loved. The street has its heroes – we speak of unsung heroes in English – that the establishment does not necessarily recognize. Big brothers are not the gearheads we talk about or the worthless dropouts. It is the heroes coexisting and complementing the heroines of these neighborhoods who lift the youth to the top.
Vulnerability is fully depicted there, as are the fragilities that make an individual complex. A corollary of love, anger is also described there. Immigration or femininity are not only the discriminated categories present in the film because a large part is left to mental health, trauma, anxiety. A collective experience of anger in the face of injustice present at school, in the street, in demonstrations and especially in the face of the Police where the slogan #JusticeForMehdi takes on its full meaning so as to never forget.
A conclusion worthy of Brussels
I would love to develop more but I’m afraid of spoiling it for you, however be sure of one thing, you will not be disappointed because either you are from Brussels and you will say to yourself that you finally have the story that you were waiting for (and will be critical of some details of Bruxellois.es but we will discuss that over a good tea) or you are not and believe me, you will have a first sincere glimpse – oscillating between metaphor and documentary – of what our Capital has to offer.
Brussels needed its cinematic postcard. With ‘BXL’, she finally obtains an authentic story, far from clichés and caricatures. And that, word of the people of Brussels, we needed it!
⇒ Title of the essay. Original title: “A view from Brussels on the film BXL”
