The Son

The Son, directed by Jean and Luc Dardenne is a movie that follows Olivier, a carpentry teacher in a trade school for boys coming out of juenile detention. The film opens up with Olivier denying a boy entry to his class and then running around the school trying to catch a glimpse of him as he is put into another class. Olivier then accepts him into his class and developes a close relationship with the boy while trying to maintain a professional distance. We learn that Olivier Had a wife and a son at one point but they divorced after thier son was murdered. We learn that the boy that Olivier is befriending actually killed his son. The movie ends in an emotionally charged confrontation between Olivier and his son's murderer. This movie had a Dogme 95ish quality to it. There was no music in the film and it was all shot with a hand held camera. This film had a power to it that is rarely captured on film. The simplicity in the story and the acting gives it a realistic feeling. The story seems farfetched, why would this man befriend his son's killer? But as the film moves on we understand that he is still in mourning and this is giving him closure no matter how painful it may be for him. The final scene leaves us with a moral lesson somewhere between walking a mile in someone elses shoes and two wrongs dont make a right. A must see for all movie fans or those simply interested in the human condition.