Le gang des Bois du Temple (The Temple Woods Gang)- English subtitled
Dark and poetic crime drama about a group of aging petty thieves from a Paris suburb who rob a Saudi prince.
Retired soldier Pons has recently lost his mother and is busy preparing for her funeral. What he does not know is that neighbour Bébé and his friends are preparing a robbery on the convoy of a wealthy Arab prince who is on his way to the airport. The euphoria when the loot is in only lasts very briefly. The owners want their property back and this has far-reaching consequences, also for Pons.
Ameur-Zaïmeche does not deliver a classic gangster film. The pace is significantly slower and the soundscape is much more restrained than is usual in the genre. The story unfolds through everyday events: feeding pigeons, hanging out at the pub, watching TV. What begins as a film about a robbery develops into a social realist drama with the ever topical theme that the poor lose out to the wealthy. (ms)