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Written by Robert Edgecomb Friday, 19 May 2006 16:50

The Dardenne brothers they have created a movie that is not black or white, isn’t clear-cut, and makes you think.

Upon the surface, L’enfant is the simplest and certainly the most subtle film to come out in recent memory. The film, which was directed with brazen minimalism by Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, has won just about every award it has been up for, including the Cannes Film Festival’s Golden Palm. One must wonder, though, if the film and all of its downsized humanity is worth the recognition that it has been receiving.

The Dardenne brothers decide to utilize a wide-lensed handheld camera that intimately follows around the two childish characters, Bruno and Sonia, and their newborn baby, Jimmy. Sonia and Bruno appear to be two of the same kind, twentyish middle class GenXers who have never had to work a day in their lives and who still live in a childish, immature mindset. When Jimmy comes around, they are hit with a stark realization that they have to grow up. Sonia gives in and Bruno does his best to run away.

Not understanding the extent of his actions, Bruno, a thief by occupation, decides to sell Jimmy like he can with everything else in life. For him there is nothing that is not replaceable: relationships, clothes, jewelry, and even children. It isn’t until Sonia finds out and threatens his freedom that he realizes his mistake and has to get the child back.

Arguably, this film is based solely on Bruno finding redemption for his actions. The problem that the film has in doing this is that Bruno’s personality and actions create him as a sympathetic character, not an empathetic one like the film would hope. For Bruno, his actions are based solely on self-preservation. For instance, after Bruno gets Jimmy back, he grovels at Sonia’s feet to forgive him and, while thinking about it, asks for money for food, as well.

Bruno’s actions are the main catalyst for every other event that happens in the film. When Bruno finds out that there are consequences for getting Jimmy back, he blows them off as a playful warning until he is beaten up. This leads him to use his partner in crime (a schoolboy of perhaps equal maturity) to steal more money but, when a theft goes bad, he has no other option than to turn himself in and face reality. Bruno is never forgiven for his actions. At the end, he does mature enough for there to be some growth, but I wonder if that growth is selfish or altruistic.

In L’enfant, the Dardenne brothers do something that is refreshing to find in a modern movie. Like the films of the Italian neo-realists or Robert Bresson, they have created a movie that is not black or white, isn’t clear-cut, and makes you think. There is something admirable in that.