''Ma 6-T va crack-er'' (Standard French: ''Ma cité va craquer'', English translation: ''My suburbs are Going to Crack'', derived from ''craquer'' ("break down") and the drug
crack cocaine
Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...
) is a French movie directed by
Jean-François Richet
Jean-François Richet (born 1966) is a French screenwriter, director, and producer. He grew up in Meaux, a suburb east of Paris.
Select filmography
* ''Inner City (film), Inner City'' (1995) – named at the César Awards 1996 in the Best Debut ...
in 1997, caricaturing gang warfare. Richet explicitly made in an interview references to
Marxism-Leninism as his ideology to produce this movie.
This influence is strong in one dialog where the teenagers say that a workers' strike is "more powerful against the system" than a ghetto riot. Also, the lyrics of 2Bal2Neg anthem "La Sédition" that we can hear at the end of movie speaks about "class struggle against the bourgeois class" and "a vanguard party founded to overthrow the society".
Setting
The story is set in a ''cité'' (''6-T'' in French slang), or
housing project
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authorities, government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the d ...
, in the Parisian suburb of
Meaux
Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris.
Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, ...
. The residents are unhappy about their living conditions and are rebelling against this. Some critics compare it to the film ''
La Haine
''La Haine'' (, ; released in the United States as ''Hate'') is a 1995 French crime drama film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and nig ...
'', directed by
Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz (; born 3 August 1967) is a French actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter. He is the founder of MNP Entreprise, a film production company. He has won three César Awards: Most Promising Actor for '' See How They ...
and starring
Vincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor.
He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled History of the Jews in France, French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he ...
, as well as to ''
Le Cercle de la haine''.
Cast
*
Arco Descat C.: Arco
*
Jean-Marie Robert: J.M.
*
Malik Zeggou: Malik
*
Mustapha Ziad: Mustapha
*
Hamouda Bouras: Hamouda
*
Jean-François Richet
Jean-François Richet (born 1966) is a French screenwriter, director, and producer. He grew up in Meaux, a suburb east of Paris.
Select filmography
* ''Inner City (film), Inner City'' (1995) – named at the César Awards 1996 in the Best Debut ...
: Djeff
*
Virginie Ledoyen
Virginie Fernández (born 15 November 1976), known by her stage name Virginie Ledoyen (), is a French actress who has appeared in French, British and American films.
Life and career
Ledoyen was born in Aubervilliers, the daughter of Olga, a res ...
: The girl with a gun
*
Brigitte Sy
Brigitte Sy (born 26 January 1956) is a French actress and filmmaker. Her directorial film debut, '' Les Mains libres'', was released in 2010 to critical acclaim in France.
Life and career
She is the mother of the actors Louis Garrel and Esther ...
: The director
*
Emil Abossolo-Mbo
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
: The gym teacher
*
Mystik
"Mystik" is a song by Australian alternative rock artist Tash Sultana, released on 6 October 2017 as the second single from their debut studio album, '' Flow State'' (2018). The song peaked at number 77 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certif ...
: Rap singer
*
Stomy Bugsy
Gilles Duarte (; born 21 May 1972), better known by his stage name Stomy Bugsy, is a French rapper and actor from Sarcelles, France.
Biography
Born of parents from the Republic of Cape Verde, Duarte helped found hip hop group '' Ministere AMER'' ...
Impact of the film
French rap
French hip hop is the hip hop music style developed in Francophonie, French-speaking countries. France is the second largest hip-hop market in the world after the United States.
History
Beginning of French hip hop: the 70s and 80s
By 1982 and ...
did well in the early 90s in France because of its rebellious lyrical content. It is used to illustrate the link between the reality and the atmosphere of this film, and to incite reflection in the viewer.
Artists such as
IAM
IAM may refer to:
Concepts
* Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies
* Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...
, X-Men,
Assassin
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or VIP, important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not ha ...
,
KRS-One
Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...
, 2 Bal,
Mystik
"Mystik" is a song by Australian alternative rock artist Tash Sultana, released on 6 October 2017 as the second single from their debut studio album, '' Flow State'' (2018). The song peaked at number 77 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certif ...
and more feature on the soundtrack, supporting Jean-François Richet's cinematography.
See also
*
2005 civil unrest in France
The 2005 French riots (french: Émeutes de 2005 dans les Banlieues Françaises), was a three-week period of riots in the suburbs of Paris and other French cities, in October and November 2005. These riots involved youth in violent attacks, and t ...
*
Social situation in the French suburbs
The word ''banlieue'', which is French for "suburb," does not necessarily refer to an environment of social disenfranchisement. Indeed, there exist many wealthy suburbs, such as Neuilly-sur-Seine (the wealthiest commune of France) and Versaill ...
*
List of hood films
This is a list of hood films – films focusing on the culture and life of African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and/or in some cases, Asian Americans living in segregated, low-income urban communities, as well as comparably deprived and crime-ri ...
References
External links
*
*
1997 films
French crime drama films
1990s French-language films
Hood films
Films directed by Jean-François Richet
1990s American films
1990s French films
{{1990s-France-film-stub