''The Marchers'' (french: La Marche) is a 2013 French
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film by
Nabil Ben Yadir
Nabil Ben Yadir is a Belgian actor, film director, and screenwriter.
Career
Ben Yadir made his feature-length directorial debut in 2009 with ''The Barons'', which he also co-wrote with Laurent Brandenbourger and Sébastien Fernandez. The film was ...
. It is loosely based on the events surrounding the 1983
March for Equality and Against Racism The March for Equality and Against Racism (French: ''Marche pour l’égalité et contre le racisme''), also called the March of the Arabs (French: ''Marche des beurs'') by French media (''beur'' is the backslang
Back slang is an English coded la ...
.
The film's release in November 2013 coincided with the 30th anniversary of the march.
Plot
In 1983 France, teenaged Mohamed is shot by a policeman, but survives. Rejecting his friends' proposal of violent
retribution, he proposes political action inspired by
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
and
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
.
[ With two friends, and support from Dubois, the priest of Minguettes, they embark on a ]non-violent
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
March for Equality and Against Racism The March for Equality and Against Racism (French: ''Marche pour l’égalité et contre le racisme''), also called the March of the Arabs (French: ''Marche des beurs'') by French media (''beur'' is the backslang
Back slang is an English coded la ...
from Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
to Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Cast
*Tewfik Jallab
Tewfik Jallab (born 9 January 1982) is a French actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, ...
as Mohamed
*Vincent Rottiers
Vincent Rottiers (born 17 June 1986) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than thirty films since 2002.
He is the older brother of actor Kévin Azaïs
Kévin Azaïs (born 1992) is a French actor. He is best known for his performance ...
as Sylvain
*M'Barek Belkouk as Farid
*Nader Boussandel as Yazid
*Lubna Azabal
Lubna Azabal (born 15 August 1973) is a Belgian actress of Moroccan–Spanish descent.
Career
Azabal was born on 15 August 1973 in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother.[Hafsia Herzi
Hafsia Herzi (born 25 January 1987) is a French actress and film director. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature '' The Secret of the Grain'' for which she won the award for most promising actress at the ...]
as Monia
*Olivier Gourmet
Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor.
Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in '' Le Fils'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. He also appeared in ''La Promesse'' ...
as Dubois
*Charlotte Le Bon
Charlotte Le Bon (born 4 September 1986) is a Canadian actress, artist, former model and television presenter. She is known for her work in the Canal+ talk show '' Le Grand Journal'', and the films '' Yves Saint Laurent'', ''The Hundred-Foot Jo ...
as Claire
*Philippe Nahon
Philippe Nahon (; 24 December 1938 – 19 April 2020) was a French actor.
Best known films
Nahon was best known for his roles in French horror and thriller films, including '' I Stand Alone'', '' Humains'', '' Calvaire'', ''The Pack'' and ''H ...
as René Ledu
*Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze (; ar, جمال دبوز, Jamāl Dabūz; born 18 June 1975) is a French-Moroccan actor, comedian, screenwriter, film producer and director. Best known for his stand-up comedy sketches, he also worked with director Alain Chabat in ...
as Hassan
*Malik Zidi
Malik Zidi (born 14 February 1975)[ifrance.com](_blank)
is a French film, television and theatre actor. He is a as Philippe, the RG
*Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian (Armenian language, Armenian: Սիմոն Աբկարյան, born March 5, 1962) is a French-Armenian actor.
Life and career
Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenians, Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. ...
as Farid's father
*Corinne Masiero
Corinne Masiero (born 3 February 1964) is a French actress. She was born in Douai. She began acting in her late 20s, initially appearing in the theatre before moving on to the screen. She is best known for her lead role in the 2012 film '' Louise ...
as Dominique
*Rufus
Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include:
Given name
Politicians
* Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician
* Rufus Al ...
as François, pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
*Benjamin Lavernhe
Benjamin Lavernhe (, born 14 August 1984) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than sixteen films since 2009.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Living people
French male film actors
21st-century French male actors
1984 ...
as Thomas
*Kévin Azaïs
Kévin Azaïs (born 1992) is a French actor. He is best known for his performance in the film ''Love at First Fight (film), Love at First Fight'' (''Les Combattants''), for which he won a César Award for Most Promising Actor and a Lumières Awar ...
as Rémi
*Françoise Miquelis as Georgina Dufoix
Georgina Dufoix (born Georgina Nègre on 16 February 1942) is a French politician, who served as Minister of Social Affairs and National Solidarity from 1984 to 1986, in the government of Laurent Fabius
Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 194 ...
*Finnegan Oldfield
Finnegan Oldfield (born 10 January 1991) is a French-British actor, who has appeared in more than thirty films since 2003.
Background
Career
In 2005, age 14, Oldfield landed the lead role in the TV film '' L'Île Atlantique''. He dropped out ...
as Radio Host
Comparison to historical events
Answering a question about taking "liberties with the narration when telling a true story", director and co-writer Ben Yadir said: "You focus on the great History: the towns, the march of the torches, the return to Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, the , all these images that pull you back to reality... But at the start in Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, there was a group of 32, and we obviously could not make a movie with 32 characters. We thus created 10 characters around which we built short stories."
Release
''The Marchers'' had theatrical showings in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
as part of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema series 2014 program.
Reception
Boyd van Hoeij of ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' said " e film’s message of equality is loud and sincere but Yadir, here directing his second feature, struggles to maintain a workable entente between the downbeat story ..with misplaced-feeling broad humor."
Peter Debruge of ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it "uplifting story of racial tolerance hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
should travel well."
''Le Parisien
''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH.
Histor ...
'' gave it a positive review.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
''La marche''
at Allocine
* (with English subtitles)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchers, The
2013 films
2010s political comedy-drama films
French comedy-drama films
2010s French-language films
2010s Arabic-language films
Films about racism
Drama films based on actual events
Political films based on actual events
Films set in Paris
Films set in France
Films set in the 1980s
Films shot in France
Anti-racism in France
Films about activists
Films scored by Stephen Warbeck
2013 comedy films
2013 drama films
2013 multilingual films
French multilingual films
Belgian multilingual films
2010s French films