RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Asad Almond
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
AndreaBeaumont
This movie is not so much about children stories, nor about doing this specific police work. If it were about any of that, it would take more time and scenes to portray personalities of children abusers, the process of investigating, analyzing, preparing operations or doing treatment with victims.It does not offer us any of that depth. It offers a couple of flashing scenes, brief stories that are just being used as everyday background and (police work) methodology - to take effect on small group of people that are of (!)seemingly random personalities.In the movie you are being tossed right in the middle, with no character introduction. With time you will be provided with very subtle hints to reconstruct pieces (for example in some actions and some situations characters don't act according to their natural response) and that's the breaking point.The way I saw it, personal histories and stories of police officers and of children they treat are connected. Some character insight hints are given throughout the movie, but almost every scene of child molestation story basically has - two - main protagonists to look at.> Nora is of course connected to non-displayed daughter of a traditional Muslim father. Her reaction is so emotional it feels she shouts things she kept in for a long time> Fred, who is constantly angered and on the outburst is connected with a homeless boy whose mother had to give him up. The boy is just so full of anger and sad and terrified; and only Fred was able to truly calm him down; and only then Fred is really showing his vulnerability.> Nadine is connected to the girl who gave an extra push to get back her phone (it was a smart phone!) - in the whole scene she's in the background, laughing but a bit embarrassed and out of the center spot, laying low, not feeling or sharing the absurdity of the story (BTW, I just love the acting of the girl in that scene. You see in her eyes how she is slowly realizing, and how she is ashamed but also angry and deeply hurt by their laughter)> And Iris - the last story, the closure. It has been winking at us for the entire time - her cold nature, detached; her disliking and even hatred of men; her bulimia and body-acceptance problems; identifying herself with a creature dead, gone, unwanted, sick, rotten. That happened when she was the same age as is Solal, I would guess. The contrast of her and Solal could be seen in two ways - are they opposites of character (one succumbs, the other overcomes), or is her ending also his future ending, no matter what he may accomplish in life? (she did have a very successful career after all) Can he escape his "destiny"? This is yours to conclude.To conclude, all of this is not to represent or demonstrate police work or traumatic stories of real life. It's about past and present, about surviving, understanding, revealing the hidden. Outside of their jobs, would you make friends, hang out with these people? Or would you find Fred closed up and aggressive; Iris bitter cynic and passive aggressive; Nora a bitchy go-getter big-mouth. Outside in the real world these people are non-functioning; but when on their ground, which we all wouldn't even go near, they are heroes and experts.To end, I would say the movie is very very emotional and even if I'm wrong with all this and over the top, I see it that way and like it that way.
ihrtfilms
It started quite well, but after a while, I found it incomprehensible the way the team handle the cases. They were so extremely aggressive and often quite vile: asking the woman about her sex life in a such a rude manner, as she was the culprit or the girl who lost her phone, laughing in her face. Or the way the harass the girl who's just had a stillbirth. Really? This is how police deal with sensitive cases? I don't think so. And multiple agents interviewing people seemed unreal as well. Dealing with some of the crimes would no doubt be hard to deal with and difficult to keep emotions in check, but there is no professional conduct, no calm, collective approach or even respect and that seems outrageous. Shocking film.
turners-1
This film is the biggest heap of rubbish I have seen in years - nothing but a vanity project for the director. If people are left thinking that this is how a CPU would behave in any western European country then the director should hang her head in shame. Firstly the plot is a mess -events happen without any seeming rhyme of reason, all in the midst of a lot of shouting and flouncing by the CPU staff, none of which is in the least bit believable (at the start of the film a banner flashes up that 'these cases are based on real cases'). The overacting is appalling. The scene in the shopping mall is a joke, people standing round talking into walkie-talkies when they are supposed to be keeping a low profile in order to arrest a group of jewel smugglers. Secondly it is impossible to care about any of the characters, or what happens to them, with the possible exception of Ballou. All the while we get loving shots of the director (a very comely wench it must be admitted) looking gorgeous and simpering.I watched the film with a social worker who couldn't stop laughing at how ludicrous the whole film was, and I could not but help agree. As for the ending.....There is a major film to be made about the work of CPUs, but this definitely isn't it.
ffuuut
Polisse was my favourite film at the recent Sydney Film Festival. A french film from writer, director, star Maiween, it tells the story of the Child Protection Unit in Paris. It was absolutely riveting from start to finish.An ensemble piece that moves at a cracking pace, it could be forgiven for not establishing character, but it actually manages to do that and do it very well. We are introduced to this group of close knit colleagues as they go about their day trying to balance the horrors they have to deal with (rapists, kidnappers, abusers, paedophiles) with their personal lives.Maiween spent quite some time with a real CPU and told us in the Q&A that all the cases she featured are just like ones she witnessed and with that experience she brought an almost documentary feel at the same time as adding creative drama and plot to moments of the story as they rush through case after case. The performances are all excellent and the editing is sublime (it won a French Oscar for this).It's shocking, emotional, intense and surprisingly very funny.Highly recommended if you like hard-hitting films that deal with serious subjects in a very human and darkly humorous way.
