Dreaming of France -- Samba

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

I'd  never heard about this movie, Samba, but found it "on demand" in my cable television movie section. It was under comedy, which, when considering a French movie, is always questionable. But there were some laugh-out-loud moments and some poignant moments.
Here's the trailer, in French, bien sur!

As  you can tell, Samba travels to Paris and works, sending money home to his mother and sisters in Senegal. He lives with his uncle and everything is fine until he tries to get a work permit for a permanent job. After Alice helps get him out of detention, he lives life on the edge, borrowing or purchasing other people's IDs to try to get work and running from the police.
Our college-aged son joined us for most of the movie and we ended up discussing immigration and the similarities between the U.S. and France, along with some of the differences.
Omar Sy is beautiful and an engaging actor. He was, by the way, born in France, not Senegal like the character he plays.
We watched this movie for $4.99 on demand. Well worth it for some beautiful shots of Paris, along with some inner knowledge about the trials facing immigrants.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and a link to your blog on Mr. Linky below. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

French Movie -- Les Choristes

Earl and I watched a movie on one of his two nights off and when we got to the end, we looked at each other and said, "Good movie."
Many times, we watch a French movie and feel a little depressed at the end.
I was trying to explain this movie to my friend Angie at work yesterday, and she said, "That sounds like the lamest movie ever."
Okay, maybe my description wasn't very good, so let me try with you.
Les Choristes, The Chorus in English, begins with a white-haired orchestra director in New York. He received a phone call from France saying his mother has died. When he returns home for the funeral, an old school mate arrives with a book written by a prefect of their school. The movie then plunges into the past.
That past follows Clement Mathieu, who has failed at a number of jobs, as he takes a prefect job in a reformatory school for boys. The school is, of course, run by a tyrant who beats them and puts them in solitary confinement for the slightest infraction. Mathieu tries a softer approach and the anticipation is that he will pay the price for letting up on the boys.
He carries with him a leather satchel that he locks away in his room. The next day, he finds the lock broken and a clutch of boys is crouched in the bathroom with the contents of the satchel spread out before them -- music that Mathieu has written. He finds the boys and snatches back the music. As he yells at the boys, another teacher comes in the bathroom to find them. Mathieu claims they are having choral practice so the boys don't get in trouble. The teacher gives Mathieu a look that accuses him of things that teachers in boys' schools should not do and says he will not report him this time. As Mathieu tries to control the unruly boys in their dorm at night and in a study hall, he decides to begin a chorus.
As you might predict, the chorus turns around the boys, especially one who is in trouble constantly and whose beautiful, single mother works two jobs. The boy has a clear, haunting voice.
This movie has many of the things you would expect in a movie about trying to save children that others have written off, so what makes it different? Inspiring?
I think it's the actors. A cute little guy named Pepinot waits by the gate everyday, sure that his father will come for him on Saturday, but his parents were killed during the occupation of World War II.
The movie was nominated for 2 Academy Awards and won at film festivals in Chicago and Austin.
The ending is hopeful, although all of the problems are not miraculously fixed.
I think you'll like it.

Movie Dilemmas

When Earl has a rare evening off, we like to watch movies set in France or Italy, places we hope to live someday.
Last night, we walked to the library and scoured the foreign film section. We ended up with a handful of movies. First, we tried a 1960s movie Divorce Italian Style with Marcello Mastroianni who fantasized about killing his wife so he could hook up with his high school cousin. We watched for about 20 minutes before moving on to another movie.

The next choice was a 2002 French movie called Va Savoir which can be interpreted as "Go Figure." The dvd case described it as a French romantic comedy. We love romance in Paris, but this one was full of angst and overbearing characters. Frankly, most French comedies are not funny to me. Maybe I just don't have that Gallic sense of humor. Why do people die in French comedies? The funniest thing that usually happens is someone gets locked in the closet, which happened in Va Savoir. Earl says I missed a funny scene at around 2 hours, 10 minutes. I had gone to bed by then.
Don't get me wrong, I have liked some French movies, such as Manon of the Spring or Paris with Juliette Binoche, but overall, French movies fall flat with me.
Here's what I figured out. I like American or British movies with American or British humor or romance set in France or Italy -- like A Room with a View (my all time favorite) or Under the Tuscan Sun or French Kiss.
So, I need your help. Please recommend some movies set in France or Italy that I will like.