Up here in Vancouver we don't have teeming masses of third world immigrants living in Ghettos. We don't have "projects" and while we do have our social problems they are flyswatted away in comparison to the major European Cities
(and the major American cities I might add). Toronto is getting there though!
This series for me highlights a number of differences between the European zeitgeist and our way of living. It's principally about election skulduggery but it's full of real social comment. No gay issues, no transgender whining and a different , more subtle, intelligent feminism. In short, no political correctness to be found.
First thing is the overpowering sense of hopelessness for the working class stiff or the immigrant, there's just no chance of getting ahead in the normal run of things.
If you're born in the projects then there's no way out, unless you get lucky or turn to crime. The education system can't really help you because it's as broken as the rest of the social infrastructure. That broken infrastructure is one of the most powerful themes in the storyline
The answer in history has been revolution, but there's so many disparate interests in these cities/countries that we just have to wait for the true revolutionary to surface ( and they only come once in every few generations)
The second difference is in the embedded class system , everything on the one side is haute couture, gourmet dining and love of the arts while on the other side the untermensch get fast food , hiphop and drugs.
Can you see trouble coming?
This series portrays it all wonderfully well and the casting is superb. Depardieu is a fantastic talent and all the actors around him are flawless. The upper class women have that aura of elegance and privilege about them and the rebellious youthful cast are so intellectual in their portrayals that you know that they've been in this treacherous scenario at some time in their lives already.
Politicians are politicians no matter what country you're in, but these reach another level of sleaze with their greed and hunger for sexual conquests. Each and every actor puts on a perfect performance .
Sex is just another day in the park for these European productions and so we see quite a bit of it. It's just another tool to gain power or compromise somebody's integrity.
As an aside , one French President, when confronted with the scandal of his illegitimate child, said " So What?"
Marseille is painted as a dirty, slum filled port city riddled with crime and corruption... funny, but that was the impression I got when I visited the place a couple of years ago.
See? you can judge a book by its cover.
Fantastic series but don't listen to the English dubbing, it is atrocious just like most of the other foreign language movies that Netflix butchers.
Just keep it to the subtitles and you'll enjoy it
Netflix really should be brought to task about their overdubbing, I've seen three or four movies now where it's been done and it couldn't be any worse!
