In 2012, a scandal shook the Anti-Crime Brigade (“BAC”) in the northern districts of Marseille, some members of which were accused of having participated in various trafficking. Nine years later, North Bac by Cédric Jimenez is freely inspired by these events while the trial of the real police officers ended last April.
This very effective urban western brings together Gilles Lellouche, François Civil, Karim Leklou and Adèle Exarchopoulos around the director of The French, himself a native of Marseille. The film was presented out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival where it caused controversy. During the Cannes press conference, a journalist even took the filmmaker to task by accusing him of inciting people to vote for the extreme right by defending the police.
Do not stigmatize the Marseille population
“I don’t think the film is there to denounce areas of lawlessness and to stir up anger. On the contrary, the filmmaker clarified in response. I tell the story of anger because I chose the point of view of the police officers”. Cédric Jimenez shows how his characters, a trio of hotheads, are trained to cross the yellow line which leads to delinquency by a hierarchy which always wants more results.
Its nervous staging plunges the viewer into the heart of difficult neighborhoods. “It’s a focus on a case, on two or three cities that pose a problem, on police officers who are not angels… But on the other hand, they are not angels either, » insists the filmmaker who vigorously defends himself from having wanted to stigmatize the entire population of Marseille.
Virtuoso sequences
A carefully crafted scenario co-written by Cédric Jimenez and Audrey Diwan leaves the public no respite, leading them to reflect on the situation and the reasons for this surge of violence. The film is not a call to hatred. North Bac is an excellent, anxiety-inducing detective film. It offers virtuoso sequences such as a siege scene of rare intensity. More than women and men, it is the institutions that this work mocks, which does no favors to its protagonists.
There is as much intelligence as cinema in this thriller which confirms that Cédric Jimenez is one of the French masters of the genre. For the rest, each and everyone will form their own opinion on the solutions to be found after enjoying harsh entertainment that leaves you breathless.