Les Misérables

Stéphane joins a Paris police street crime unit in Montfermeil—one of the most sensitive districts on the outskirts of the city. He soon sees the neighborhood’s fiery routine, the “unorthodox” methods his partners use to cope with criminals, the gangs, and the rivalries between them. When the partners join an arrest gone awry, they find themselves in the midst of a full-blown battle between the police force and raging citizens—the result of years of tension. Ladj Ly’s début film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, is an extraordinarily suspenseful and captivating drama. This Les Misérables is far from an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, but it carries the same social critique of French society’s attitude toward its marginalized citizens.