Netflixorama: French Parkour Action Film Edition

For all of you who are new to the site, Netflixorama is my excuse to catch up with movies I never had the chance to see or haven't seen in quite some time. It's a fun little exercise in my movie intake and maybe a good way for all of you out there to see what you should be checking out or trying to stay away from.

Today's entry is a fun action film that I somehow missed to see it every chance I had. The film is Banlieue 13 or District 13 to American movie goers out there. It heavily uses the activity of parkour (l'art du déplacement or the art of movement) in many of its stunt and action sequences, which in turn means there is no wire or CGI effects. For an action film fan like myself, it's a fantastic change of pace from today's standard fare.





David Belle, a co-founder of parkour, co-stars as Leïto, a street wise youth who rules over his own apartment building in District B13, which is a suburb of Paris, in the year 2010. It's been overrun by gangs and it's become a feudal system of sorts between all the gang factions in B13. He hates drugs in his neighborhood and has been waging a war against neighboring gang lord Taha Bemamud. He's just stolen a 20kg of heroin which is worth one million euros, which incites Taha to send his goons to Leïto's building to get the drugs back. He sends his main grunt K2 (which you can tell by having it shaved in the back of his head) with a little army but they're too late; Leïto has destroyed the drugs in his bathtub with bleach and evades the group with his parkour skills in a thrilling opening chase.

K2 brings the bad news back to Taha, which then prompts him to ask if they have any ideas on how to get back his one million euros. Everyone is quiet, so he starts shooting goons one by one until he gets to K2 who screams out that they should have Leïto pay... by kidnapping his younger sister Lola and holding her up for ransom. They go to the supermarket she works at and take her hostage back to Taha's stronghold. And this is where the film gives me a bit of a surprise. Instead of the usual 'How's the hero going to get in?' type of story, Leïto just jumps in through the window and takes Taha hostage in a matter of seconds. It was a good change of story structure, which told me that this film would be a bit different.



He and his sister take Taha to the border of B13 and to the police, who are packing up to leave the walled up district behind for good. He shows them proof of Taha's drug trafficking and instead of the police taking Taha in custody, they take Leïto instead and lock him up and let Taha go with Lola. This enrages Leïto to the point of grabbing the police chief and breaking his neck with a knee stomp.



It then goes to 6 months later and we focus on undercover police captain Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli), who infiltrates a crime boss' underground casino and attempts to arrest only the boss. Of course an insane fire fight begins and Damien, with a fun fight scene, using parts of the casino to fight off the goons. I apologize for the above video being dubbed. For some reason people don't like subtitles, which boggles my mind.



Of course he triumphs but that doesn't mean he gets time to be congratulated. He's called in by the chief and Defense Secretary of France, Mr Krüger, and is assigned with a vital mission to get into district B13 and to disarm a neutron bomb stolen by Taha's men. He also has to somehow convince Leïto, who is still in prison, to help guide him in B13. Did I mention that he also has less than 24 hours to disarm the bomb? This makes for some great character work. Character work within an action film like this? You'd be surprised, but sometimes you just need to look deep down within an action film.

Damien and Leïto meet in a police truck transferring them to another prison, where Damien is pretending to be a fellow prisoner. Damien breaks free, gets rid of the two cops up front and befriends Leïto, or so he thinks. Leïto isn't that stupid, suspects everyone of trying to screw him over, and handcuffs Damien to the steering wheel. He tells him to keep driving, even through the police barricade and with the tires, steering and brakes destroyed, he crashes into some gang member's brand new sports car. Leïto tells him he knows he's a cop and tells him to figure his way out.



The film deals with a lot of heavy issues, most of which going on in France and the rest of the world, especially when it comes to class struggles. District 13 is a ghetto to the rich and citizens of Paris would rather see it wiped off the face of the Earth than see any change occur there. They've gotten rid of the schools, the police, even the post office from there, shutting it out from the rest of France. It's basically kill or be killed beyond those walls and barbed wire, which is why you have all these hardened killers and criminals who are in charge while people like Leïto try to fight the evil with their own style but feel as if the law has turned their backs on them. Which in this alternate future timeline, it has. There's a lot of twists and turns and it's all spelled out for the viewer very easily in the eyes of Leïto, who finds it a bit suspicious that a neutron bomb was so easily robbed and left in district B13.

I realize I'm going through the whole basic storyline, so I'll stop right there. I'd rather you all just rent it or buy it (which I'll be doing soon) but I'll speak about a few of the things that you wouldn't know by just watching the film. The film was co-written and co-produced by Luc Besson, of Leon, La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element fame. He's had a great career of producing and writing films that he doesn't direct as well, with The Transporter franchise films being a few of his hits. He also hired Pierre Morel to direct the film, who was the cinematographer of The Transporter and Unleashed (also produced and written by Besson). Morel has gone on to direct a hit film here in the States, Taken, so I'd like to see what else he has up his sleeve in the near future.

Parkour is the other thing that has been adopted in many action films as of late. A lot of you know it from the opening chase scene in Casino Royale and one of the main bad guys used it in the sub par sequel to Die Hard, Live Free or Die Hard (remember when it was supposed to be called Die Hard 4.0? Remember when it was supposed to be a good movie? Well, not sure about that one...). The funny thing is Cyril Raffaelli was said henchman in the film, showcasing his style to American audiences (which I have to say was the only thing that got any cheers in the film).



I'm not sure if parkour has been beaten to death yet. I've seen it in plenty of commercials, a few movies and even was the central point of the video game Mirror's Edge. It's a cool concept though, which I can see many more stuntmen using in the repertoire, especially with action films trying to up the ante every time. That's a good thing though. Innovation tends to make me a happy camper and I'm always pleased when a good thing becomes... the norm, I guess.

The first film I ever saw it used in was the French film Yamakasi in 2001 (another film co-written by Besson... he's a busy guy). It was a fun little film that I thought nothing else about until I started hearing all these stories of traceur's doing these death defying stunts so fluidly, you wouldn't dare believe it. But now, it's become a way of life for plenty of people who study parkour, and I hope to see it in more film but not used strictly as a gimmick, but more as an enhancement to a film's story and/or action.

So go check out District B13, but with subtitles only. It loses any feeling with the dubbed version. It's a fun action film that won't disappoint. And to people who don't care about story, it's got some cool action sequences which won't bore you in the least. I just can't wait for the sequel, District B13 Ultimatum which came out already in France and comes out here in the States in July. It will have David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli reprising their roles from the first film. I have a feeling they have thought up new ways to thrill the audience with some crazier stunts and action sequences than the first one.