I haven't read every single review of B13 on this site, so maybe I'm repeating something. OK, it's worth repeating: B13 is not just one of the seminal action movies of this decade, it's also saturated with genial anger and hot politics. Almost everybody in the movie is "ethnic" or supposed to be: the only "white" characters besides Leito and Damien are feckless bureaucrats or white-color criminals or both. If you've visited the so-called "cités" which surround Paris (and France's other big cities) you've been to Banlieue 13. The only big difference between film and reality is that life in the film is gritty, short, and fun, while life in the real French burbs is just squalid and vicious. The movie, wild as it is, serves not just to pump up the adrenalin of the average viewer but to wave a flag of empowerment for the taupe, ecru, maroon, beige, brown and black people who have to live in the monstrous ruins that surround "the City of Light."
Review of District B13
