akash_sebastian A promise. What does that word mean to you? How far would you go to keep a promise you made to someone? Would you betray someone close to you to keep that promise? 'La Promesse' is a brilliant debut by the Belgian duo, Dardenne brothers, showing a 15-year old boy's brave efforts to keep his promise. The movie is about morality and responsibility. It's easy for one to blame their bad upbringing or company for their immoral ways, but it takes real courage and a good conscience to rise above those ways and become a better human being.With hand-held cameras, simple narrative, inexperienced actors and no background score, Dardenne brothers' bold approach is quite refreshing and realistic; they place us right there, in suburban Belgium, where the story is unfolding. The story is stirring, and the acting is quite incredible, especially by Jeremie Renier; their eyes speak a lot.I liked the way they handled superstitions and rituals related to it; it was darkly amusing.The final scene is quite uplifting and heartbreaking. I loved the way they ended the movie; it keeps you pondering over a few things.

dbdumonteil Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers...In the nineties, Belgium gave us two or rather three great directors: Jaco Van Dormael (the terrific "Toto the hero" 1991) and the Dardenne brothers. But the cinema of the latter is more realist and matter-of-fact. Furthermore, it evokes Ken Loach's with a difference: if Ken Loach presents the pains of Western society by introducing humor, it isn't the same thing with the Dardenne brothers where humor is absent.For "the promise", the Dardenne brothers opted for neutrality and sobriety: short and quick dialogs, a film that essentially relies on the characters' gestures and countenances, no music, a vivid and rough directing that often shows the actors with back turned and especially a will to show a bleak social reality (the migrant workers' exploitation) and for this the movie almost takes a documentary aspect. The authors don't pass judgment, they don't feel pity. They just take a gritty and harsh look on these emigrants who live in dilapidated flats with a starvation wage. Besides, we can take down a significant detail: their hard living conditions echoes to a gray sky and it gives to the film a dull atmosphere.An important point of the film is the relationship between Igor and his father. The beginning of the film presents a relationship between a father and his son that we could describe as complicity. At this moment, the movie becomes tinged with tenderness. But throughout the movie, this complicity gradually turns into an open opposition and the consequences of Igor's promise open his eyes on his fathers' cruelty."The promise" is also a movie that includes powerful moments because the suggested has the edge on the showed: Hammidou's mortal accident, the very last sequence of the movie when Igor decides to reveal the truth to Assita about her husband (we don't see her face but the simple view of her bent back makes us suggest her sadness.The performance is also remarkable. Beginning with Jérémie Régnier who brings a lot of freshness to his character and the authors gave him the picture of a friendly boy. It is interesting to notice that he and "Rosetta" (1999) have a few common points. For example, they evolute in a tough environment. Moreover, Olivier Gourmet's awesome performance in the role of the father adds to the success of the film."The promise" shows the Dardenne's brothers' talent who are the main leaders of Belgian cinema.

Moira Rose This film was a gem and I look forward to seeing "Rosetta" by the same filmmakers, although I missed it back in '99.The story has a gritty documentary feel in its depiction of lower-class immigrant experience in Belgium, but nonetheless is dramatically compelling because of the tension between the father and the son. I haven't seen this side of modern European urban life treated in film this well.

Jerome-5 At the turn of the 20th century, film pioneers in the United States were shooting movies about the fantastic, pushing the envelope of special effects and melodrama, while European film makers were trying to capture the the essence of "real life." It's amazing how little has changed in a hundred years."La Promesse," a Belgian film by the Dardenne brothers, offers so little of the American drama-enhancers that at first it seems boringly mundane. But an interesting morality-play soon puts the viewer's mind to work. What is the main character, Igor, a street-wise kid supposed to do when his father, who has taught him every trick in the book, hides the accidental death of an illegal immigrant worker? Igor promises the worker's wife that he will look after her and her baby while her husband has gone "missing" but is unable to tell her the horrible truth.Igor contemplates what to do, oftentimes while driving around a ghastly post-industrial landscape on his rickety moped. No music, just moped whining. In typical Dardenne style, there is a brief touching and funny scene in all of this misery. Igor is filmed actually having fun with his pals in a pitifully dilapidated, home-made go-cart -like all kids should- rather than contemplating such weighty issues. The effect is unforgettable.Igor finally decides to make a break with his father and in a common but effective convention -- he uses the survival tactics that his father taught him (such as driving their van) against him, leaving the fat-ish father to go after his kid while squeezing onto his kid's moped. Truly a pathetic sight.Igor, his hand played with his father, is now forced to confront the issue with the worker's widow and her baby which makes for a powerful conclusion. Sans music, of course.Without entirely giving up the movie, the title, "La Promesse" actually has two meanings it seems. The first is the promise to the woman and her baby but the directors evidently are also rooting for "the promise" of a younger (post-baby boomer) generation to act altruistically. I'm reminded of the line in a John Cougar Mellencamp (baby-boomer) song, "Check it Out," when he sings wistfully, "Future generations...maybe they'll have a better understanding, Hopefully have a better understanding..."In a sad coda, I saw "La Promesse" in Washington DC's last independent theater just days before it closed down, thus losing it's battle with the evil theater-chain empires. Movies like "La Promesse" are the kinds of films that allow one to restore the promise that there can still be thoughtful and unforgettable cinema out there in the land of formulaic Hollywood pap. These films need to be made and offered in our theaters and video stores...and taught in our film schools. They do more than entertain. They offer a window on life. If they can't survive in the "movie market," then (oh-no, the s-word) subsidize them and use them as teaching instruments to our students. Maybe future generations will revive the art -- and learn something in the process.