Les Misérables

This winner of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and France’s official submission for Oscar’s Best International Feature is, basically, Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Miz’ in the ‘Hood. Co-written and directed by Ladj Ly, who was born and raised in Montfermeil, where Hugo set part of his story, it’s surprisingly relevant in contemporary culture, focusing on a real incident of police brutality.

French cinema has produced gripping police procedurals. To that group must now be added writer/director Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables, set in the embattled Parisian banlieue (district) Les Bosquets where Victor Hugo located important scenes in his famous 1862 eponymous novel. Les Misérables won the Jury Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and is France’s submission for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar.