A Better Life (2011)
10/10
The same for Ayoub (web)
25 February 2014
This movie is really dark and sad as this young family faces only despair and adversity. But for me it was in addition very painful and nostalgic as i met those characters for real. Indeed, Leila is the mirror of my Arabic friend who, like in the movie, was a single mother with kids. Thus, Slimane is the mirror of her youngest kid whose name is thus Ayoub. At first, i didn't like very much Yann as he was always pushy with Leila and especially Slimane. But his idealism, blind optimism and honesty was also positive for him. But he really changed when he has to conclude that playing by the rules in a such unfair world wasn't the right attitude. Strangely, he became closer with the kid and like me, he was happy to share simple moments with him that make best memories after and give life its meaning. Their fish party or the last scene with them riding in the snow was heartbreaking for me as Ayoub and me had the same laughs, especially a bus trip when the two of us fall asleep and the driver had to wake us up! So the movie poster with Yann and Leila isn't accurate as it's above all the story of Yann and Slimane.

This movie shows also the true face of Paris, the one that looks like a poor country and the crazy life in France : for a country that boasts having invented human rights, the individual has no liberty and in each step you do, you have to face a blind administration that sees only the regulation and forgets to address the person.
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