There isn’t a shred of sentimentality in Young Ahmed. The latest from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the filmmaking fraternals whose sparse, spare style makes Ken Loach look like Baz Luhrmann, focuses on a teenage Muslim boy who has fallen under the spell of religious fanaticism. If not top-tier Dardennes, it’s a tightly focussed, empathetic, urgent work which has little in the way of answers to the problems it presents but is gripping from first frame to last.
Living in a bustling Belgian city. Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi) is a quiet, introverted, soft-featured teen. Yet, to the dismay of his mother (Claire Bodson), he has turned his back on his PlayStation, torn down the posters on his bedroom wall, and fallen under the spell of local imam Youssouf (Othmane Moumen), who preaches hate-speech against infidels. In short, economic scenes, the effect of this is felt: he criticises his mother’s drinking, rails against his sister for wearing skimpy clothing and refuses to shake the hand of his teacher, Miss Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), because she has a Jewish boyfriend and wants to teach Arabic from sources other than the Qur'an. Partly inspired by a cousin who sacrificed himself in an act of holy jihad — Ahmed pores over a website devoted to him — Ahmed vows to kill Miss Inès (the Dardennes meticulously build up every detail of his preparation, such as running with a knife in a shoe) but when the assassination fails, he is placed in a juvenile detention centre.
The Dardennes brothers’ trademark reluctance to judge is present and correct which, given the subject matter, may be inflammatory or unsatisfying for some.
The Dardennes have made films about children with problems before —Rosetta, The Child, The Kid With A Bike — but nothing as bereft of hope as here. In other filmmakers’ hands, the second act might have turned into a battle for Ahmed’s soul, with social workers, psychologists and judges looking to turn the troubled teen to the light side. But in the Dardennes’ world view, there are no easy options or pat solutions. With all the singlemindedness of a James Cameron villain, Ahmed is just going to do his thing. Even a friendship/romance with farmer’s daughter Louise (Victoria Bluck) forged during Ahmed’s work-release mucking out cows doesn’t go the way you think. The brothers’ trademark reluctance to judge is present and correct which, given the subject matter, may be inflammatory or unsatisfying for some, but the hows and whys of why young men get radicalised isn’t under the microscope here. It’s a portrait of what happens after that point and, aided by newcomer Addi’s wannabe assassin, who is both baby-faced and poker-faced, it is quietly terrifying.
Working with new cinematographer Benoît Dervaux, the Dardennes capture all of this in the most simple, elegant way imaginable, with zero music to hype the emotions. And when in the last act the film moves into more ‘movie-movie’ territory, their stylish sense of naturalism still works to amp up tension in believable, compelling ways — right until the very last moments.