Protection
“Polisse” will not disturb the Parisian Child Protection
Reviewed by Jenny Alvarez
Photo: Courtesy
The daily grind for the cops of the Police Department’s Juvenile Protection Unit (Riccardo Scamarcio, Marina Foïs, Maïwenn Le Besco, joey starr) taking in child molesters, busting underage pickpockets and chewing over relationship issues at lunch; interrogating abusive parents, taking statements from children, confronting the excesses of teen sexuality, enjoying solidarity with colleagues and laughing uncontrollably at the most unthinkable moments. Knowing the worst exists and living with it!
There are interesting ideas in the main dialogue with disturbing content, this movie reflects French drama about a courageous team of men and women in a Parisian Child Protection Unit. However, every sequence has a great intensity, which has the paradoxical effect of lessening the overall oomph. Many real social facts are part in each case that this team has to face such as: rape, sexual abuse, child endangerment, underage prostitution and even a boy who’s put up for sale. Sometimes the infamy is the bureaucracy itself, which can’t be roused to protect the vulnerable.
Simple solutions often elude these cops, who work the multiethnic, relatively downscale neighborhoods of northeast Paris. Most of the victims are hopeless especially infants and some of these officers develop work relationships that are more intense than others.
Fred, the group’s hypersensitive wild card, is going to have a hard time facing the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer on a Ministry of the Interior assignment to document the unit. Even there are some shocking moments, especially with the crimes mentioned here would seem horrific to anyone with a pulse, but it’s all the more disturbing on the real life happens so is highly recommended. This movie opens in limited release on May 18th
