London River (2009)

One of my all time favorites.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

From my favorite movies..

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's July 7, 2005. There is a terrorist bus bombing in London. Widower Elisabeth Sommers (Brenda Blethyn) can't contact her daughter Jane. She travels to London to search for her. African Muslim Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyaté) arrives from France to look for his son Ali. He has not seen him since he was six.Essentially, the story is mostly known from the start. There is a little reveal but it's not that compelling. The movie has a solid sense of the people of the city. Blethyn is once again the old close-minded woman. It's a tired character that she needs to modify. It's getting repetitive. Otherwise, the acting is solid. The movie is slow because the ending is inevitable. It does give a realistic portrayal of modern London. As a story, it is very predictable.

London July 7 2005. Elisabeth, a good woman. a humble churchgoer, respecting the law. Racist? No! Not before 7/7! Alarmed by the reporting on her secure Guernsey and that her daughter does not answer her phone, Elisabeth leaves for the city if everything is well. It is not. She visits her daughter the first time, wondering: "Is this the right address?" - surrounded by Islamic foreign strangers. Her daughters landlord, gives her the key for her daughters flat. During her search she encounters the black African, french speaking Monsieur Ousmane: searching his son Ali. They have to discover that their children, her daughter Jane and his son Ali have an affair, the fathers son living with the mothers daughter in her flat. And her daughter learns Arabic: "Who speaks Arabic?" ask the very British Christian mother: hardly looking at the searching father, and if: 'von oben'. But has eventually to accept the unacceptable, secure at home on her British Island where the different otherness is never an issue; human as she herself: "Our lives aren't that different", she discovers. And that her British daughter, visiting her on her save island last Christmas; she never told: why? The searching mother and the searching father, guided by their children's spirit are searching the other to find themselves otherness. The director: "Most important was the central encounter." Fot the sake when truth is revealed: the mothers heartbreaking break-down and beside her the fate accepting father. Mutual respect and in need for each other when the truth of sorrow has to be shared. No body for the grave. So different their first and last encounter. Passing him, without a single look, leave alone seeing him. A nobody. An then: her embrace. Both return to their duty, the farm and the forest. Not the same: different. Against the backdrop of not only Oslo and Breivik: also the own family's racism ('What would I be on Titanic and as she sank, what would I do?', the closing words of the documentary Titanic & me). Behind color, behind believe, behind we are educated for: never for the encounter in the aftermath of 7/7. Why the London-Oslo-family and other disastrous front mirrors without the back mirror? 'This quest to find their children alive forces them to unite', signals the director Rachid Bouchareb: discovering themselves behind the mask.

A Christian woman (naturally portrayed as evil, deranged, superstitious) and a Muslim man (naturally portrayed as deep, kind, meek) pair up to look for their missing children after some Muslims decide to blow up some commuters.As propaganda goes this is simple stuff that would have looked a bit questionable circa 1930. One is good, the other bad but the bad one can learn from the good one. Don't mind that pile of bodies though, that's just the background.Aside from all that the film is full of lame coincidences and pretty badly written. I'll leave out my opinion of anyone genuinely moved by this movie as I suspect that's what got my last review deleted. If the character roles were reversed though I expect there would be uproar about discrimination and negative portrayal.This is going to appeal to some people because it's saying what they want to hear, that's how propaganda works but it's still a shoddy film whether you like the message or not.

I've been sitting here in front of the computer with a blank page open trying to find a way to write about London River that will convey everything it made me feel while watching it.It is funny to confirm once again that I have no problem in writing about the things I don't like, about what things aren't and all the other negative aspects about any given subject, but once I have to write about the reasons why I like something, why it is great, etc; I blank.I think a good way to start writing about London River is to say that A) it is the best film (fiction) I have watched at the Festival so far and B) it will be really hard not to spoil anything about the story (so, if you want to be truly surprise you should stop reading now).London River is the story about a woman and a man whose children go missing after the attacks in London in 2005. The film follows their efforts to find out what happened to them and their struggle to accept the obvious.The brilliance about London River is that what could have been an over melodramatic film is, instead, very emotionally repressed.I know that for Brazilians and other Latin-American people, telling such a dramatic story this way might seem odd and, even worse, cold. But it truly isn't. It turns out quite the opposite, in fact.The very contained direction and script from Rachid Bouchareb ends up making you feel even more for these parents and what they are going through. Their despair is subtle and yet palpable. It involves you and moves you. It is heartbreaking.Another reason for being the perfect way to tell this story is that the fear and prejudice that permeates British society is a touchy issue. How could it not be? No one likes to admit their faults, but facing it this way without accusations or making it a spectacle (like Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine or Fahrenheit 9/11) is more powerful; it makes you think. It is also a very respectful and honorable way of tackling a very real and present aspect of British life.If the technical aspects of London River weren't enough to make it a great film, then you can delight and be amazed with Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté performances. They are very honest and beautiful. They will bring tears to your eyes, I guarantee.On a personal note, I rarely watch a film and am taken aback by the actors to the point that I think they deserve awards, but this time I did. I really hope they get nominated for the major awards. It will be shocking and unfair if they don't.