I have just discovered this film dating from 1988 and I had a priori never seen films by Jean-Claude Brisseau. I found this film disturbing and interesting. The film describes a suburb of the Seine Saint Denis as a place of desolation and perdition where young adolescents go to war and come to kill each other out of boredom and neglect of their parents added to a situation without prospects. We are not so far from the various facts that happen nowadays, with the difference that here the majority of party troubles are Caucasian and that the leaders are girls even more extreme than the boys. The other women are dealing with an aggressive and ruthless patriarchal society treated as objects, ordered or raped. In this dismal painting we follow the story of Bruno, a 13-year-old boy whose mother is never there because she is working to be able to find him accommodation in a more livable place. Bruno meets a neighbor and comrade who feels abandoned by his father and is in revolt against society. His father shoots rifles in his own apartment, makes a living from scheming and terrorizes the whole building. In the middle of this morbid equation, bits of poetry in the world of phantasy in which Bruno escapes, that of birds, and of a mysterious white lady, object of desire and fantasy. The film does not seem to provide an answer to the social and human idleness of the suburbs, but seems to point to the lack of inter-generational communication and class violence as the triggering scourge.

It must be like 5 years or so since I saw this movie and I think I will never be able to forget some of the scenes of this film . Its the story of a quiet young boy , going to school , having a quiet life , but lonely life because he have no friends and his mother is never there . His life begins to be more and more disturbed by the neighbourhood , and he'll slowly enter this violence , rubbing shoulders with a hoodlum and his gang. This movie is like CLOCKWORK ORANGE without the science fiction , it is truly crude, the raping scenes really put uncomfortable .Brisseau could direct scenes as unforgettable as the Russian roulette scenes in DEER HUNTER ; He's got the same dark , ultra realistic way of filming things that are beautiful or horrible . The actors are great , the story never slow neither exaggerates , is it one of my favorite French movies .And the end of this movie makes it a movie which may haunt you for many years .

The first time I saw this movie it was on Télé-Québec (Provincial owned TV station) a couple of year ago at 23h00 pm (it was the late night movie) and I was amazed by it! The story is so sad but real. The character are beautiful...And the end is a must see. If you know the Bérurier Noir (A french punk-rock band) you should listen to Sur les toits and Vive le feu before watching this movie! It will put you in the right state of mind!!! After the presentation (with no ads!) I sat on my bed and said to myself: F*** how is it possible! How where they able to show this explicit hardcore, noir, avant-garde full reality movie on national television! (it was the first and only time I saw it as well, somebody probably got fired for that!) If only I had known back then I would have pressed record on my f***** VCR. Nowadays, there's no DVD version of it and to get it new on VHS it cost about 150 Euros!!! In short : It's a very well made no-budget movie that have inspired modern movie such as : Ma 6 - T va Crak-er and La haine Thanx RTB