Before the Flames Go Out – A Film About Police Violence in France

2023-11-19 20:58:17
Bac Films

Bac Films

Camélia Jordana, here in “Before the flames go out” by Mehdi Fikri.

CINEMA – Like a sense of déjà vu. And for good reason. Camélia Jordana made her return to the cinema with the arrival on the big screen of the first film by the ex-journalist and head of the police justice pages of Humanity, Mehdi Fikri. The title of the feature film released Wednesday November 15: Before the flames go out.

The actress here is called Malika, a woman in her thirties whose younger brother died following a violent arrest. In the neighborhood where he lived, anger broke out against a backdrop of revolts and burning cars. Malika knows it: we must act quickly, before this dramatic episode fades into oblivion.

On the advice of activists against police violence (one of them is played by Samir Guesmi), Malika, surrounded by her other brother (Sofiane Zermani) and her sister (Sonia Faïdi), launches into a legal fight. She fights for a trial to take place, at the risk of jeopardizing the balance within her family, then in the grip of mourning, her relationship, the education of her baby son, and her work on the markets.

Check out the trailer below:

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If these fragments of the life of our heroine are purely fictional, her fight necessarily recalls that of Assa Traoré and the Justice pour Adama collective, launched after the death of the latter at the age of 24 at the gendarmerie of Persan, in Val-d’Oise, after his arrest.

One story, five dramas of police violence

Mehdi Fikri was well inspired by this highly publicized affair, but not only that. He drew on four other files, namely the deaths of Lamine Dieng (Paris, 2007), Ali Ziri (Argenteuil, 2009), Wissam El-Yamni (Clermont-Ferrand, 2012) and Amine Bentoussi (Paris , 2012). “ No element of the film is specific to a single family », the director tells us.

If he chose these five cases, it is because he worked on them when he was still a journalist. It was unthinkable for him to keep only one. “ In my film, Karim (the young man killed, editor’s note) is not an angel. It was out of the question to tell this from an existing family », Explains, for example, the filmmaker.

Another argument: do not shed light on a single affair. “ The starization of certain families is legitimate, as the work they have carried out to denounce police violence has moved things forward. On the other hand, a handful of families hide the dramas and tragedies of many others. he notes. And to remind: “ Many families do not create ‘political momentum’ when needed. »

« No longer invisible ” families

Far from journalism, a field “ words and facts », Mehdi Fikri, already working as a screenwriter on the series Hippocrates, Poor thing et Ourikanow prefers cinema, which “ allows us to bear witness to a reality of the deep and sentimental world ».

In Before the flames go outfiction does not only allow him to “ show the broad systemic aspect » police violence. He hopes that it also allows “ bring these families – who are part of our history regardless of our opinion on the matter – into the national novel » et « to no longer make them invisible ».

Before adding: “ It’s a story that repeats itself. » Words that echo the end credits, a montage of current affairs videos illustrating the fight against police violence led by families of victims. They range from the 1980s until 2023, as evidenced by images of Nahel Merzouk’s mother in the middle of the crowd during a mobilization after the death of her son. A way, Mehdi Fikri tells us, of “ pay homage to reality and not hide behind fiction ».

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