movie review close enemies

Netflix Review: ‘Close Enemies’

Near the opening of the film, we are introduced to the main character, Driss, who busts into the home of a drug gang with his team of narcs. That’s when one of the gang members looks at him and asks him why he does not speak in their language. Offended by this remark, he disses him out by claiming “I don’t speak Arabic, a**hole!” At first, for a viewer, this simply seems like a whimsical way of introducing the protagonist, however, much later in the film, it’s this scene that proves to be a rather consequential event.

On the surface, though it does pack its own moments of grit and nail-biting action, ‘Close Enemies’ is ultimately a typical crime drama . For the most part, the film comes off as a quintessential cop noir where a game of cat and mouse ensues between the primary characters. However, somewhere towards the end, it almost relegates its entire criminal plot and action, and instead, starts to reflect more on the environment and circumstances that motivate individuals to act the way they do. ‘Close Enemies’ has a quasi-documentary style feel to it which does add a tinge of realism to it, but eventually, it falls short of being great as it takes too much time to unfold what it’s truly trying to depict.

Directed by David Oelhoffen, the plot of ‘Close Enemies’ revolves around the lives of two characters, Manuel (Matthias Schoenaerts) and Driss (Reda Kateb), who initially seem to be the polar opposites of one another. While both of them seem to belong to a Middle-Eastern descend, Driss defies the stereotype surrounding the people of his culture and works as a narc.

On the other hand, Manuel, who very well conforms to the stereotypes of his origins, is a hood who delves deep into the world of drugs, until one day, he is forced to face some serious consequences. That’s when his survival starts to depend on Driss and both the characters are forced to face their common past.

Manuel’s side of the story is fairly linear. He seems like a lonely man who often drops by his ex-girlfriend’s house just to see his son and the closest “family” that he knows is the drug traffickers he works for. But when he is betrayed by his own people, he is left with no other option but to leave his old life behind.

Driss’ side of the story turns out to be far more complex. He boldly claims that his Arab appearance proves to be more of an asset than an insult when he works as narc but he, too, is far more troubled than he seems to be on the outside. He is spat at by the people of his own community, who see him as a renegade just because he serves the country of France by locking up his own men in prison, while the nation fails to give immigrants half-decent opportunities. This is why he finds himself stuck in the middle of the two worlds where one demands him to have a strong sense of justice while the other draws him because of his cultural roots.

‘Close Enemies’ offers way too many strands of other films of the same genre. But it’s the dynamic of its two main characters and the actors who play them, that keeps it afloat throughout its runtime. The storyline’s tension, which is considerable at times, comes from its emphasis on human nature.

The film almost reflects on a whole new variant of Stockholm Syndrome where Driss feels inclined towards his job of busting bad guys but his attachment to his roots never really leaves him. Ingenious additional layers are added to this through the film’s strong attachment to social reality. Despite being a promising narc, time and again, Driss is looked upon with skeptical eyes because of his appearance. Meanwhile, Manuel never really had the choice to seek a better life in the first place. Overall, more than anything else, ‘Close Enemies’ is the examination of the conscience of its characters and less of a cop drama.

Rating: 3/5

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Film Review: ‘Close Enemies’ (Frères Ennemis)

A gritty, accomplished but familiar crime drama with Reda Kateb and Matthias Schoenaerts, about brotherhood across the banlieue barricades.

By Jessica Kiang

Jessica Kiang

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David Oelhoffen ‘s last film, which played in competition in Venice in 2014, was called “Far From Men,” but was characterized by a lean, craggy, proto-Western narrative that metaphorically lashed its two stars, Viggo Mortensen and Reda Kateb , close together for the duration. By contrast, his newest feature, which also landed a competition slot in Venice, has the English title “Close Enemies” but keeps its tussling main characters — again each on opposite sides of the law, and this time played by Kateb and Matthias Schoenaerts — far apart for most of the running time.

That’s an irony it would be easy to dismiss if it didn’t also speak to this film’s fatal flaw: While the frictive tension is palpable between Schoenaerts’ bulked-up, doggedly loyal drug runner and Kateb’s soulfully buttoned-down, conflicted cop in their few scenes together, for the most part, their destinies run in frustrating parallel, never really entwining in a meaningful way. And so the mournful, mythic texture, moral knottiness and psychological richness attained in “Far From Men,” which was based on an Albert Camus story, eludes us in “Close Enemies” which was apparently based on every genre crime drama ever. At best, it’s a consummately well-crafted and committed version of a story we’ve seen play out dozens of times before.

It opens with a literal bang as Driss (Kateb), a narcotics officer working the beat of the suburban Parisian projects in which he grew up, leads a raid on an apartment in an unlovely high-rise which results in the arrest of several miscreants. One of them, being jostled into handcuffs, appeals pointedly to Driss’ racial loyalty. “I don’t speak Arabic,” Driss lies, turning back to stare impassively through the window.

Manu (Schoenaerts) is at that moment across town, kicking a football around with the son he dotes on and to whom he is teaching a few Arabic phrases. He and his best friend Imrane (Adel Bencherif) are on their way to form part of a raucous welcome committee for Nouri (Omar Salim), an associate who has just been released from prison. Later, at the party for Nouri’s homecoming held in the house of powerful clan patriarch and crime boss Raji (Ahmed Benaissa), Manu’s status as a beloved adopted member of this Moroccan/Algerian community is made clear, and the contrast between him and childhood friend Driss eloquently established. Manu is carefree and popular, always among people, the center of a tight knot of camaraderie; Driss, except for the daughter he is raising, is always alone. The interactions with his police colleagues are fractious and marked by tacit distrust, while a touching scene later on shows how even his parents have ostracized him, as an act of self-preservation.

But having established these oppositions, Oelhoffen’s script, co-written with Jeanne Aptekman, doesn’t let Manu and Driss meet face-to-face until the 45-minute mark, and only sporadically thereafter. In the meantime, the plot grinds mechanically into gear after a brilliantly well-staged kickstart in which Imrane, who is in fact snitching to Driss, is killed in a shockingly sudden drive-by during a big cocaine score. Manu narrowly escapes with his life, under a cloud of suspicion and bent on vengeance.

The craft is impeccable if again unfolding in a very familiar register, from Superpoze’s low-key buzzing electro score to DP Guillaume Deffontaines’ gritty, muscular camerawork, set in a Gillette-for-men palette of gun-metal greys and dull navy blues. The set pieces are exciting, the shoot-outs bloody, and the women sidelined as either liabilities, alibis, petitioners, or voices of conscience for their menfolk.

However, as though obeying the rules of the romantic comedy despite being laden with testosterone seriousness, the film really comes to life in the brief moments of contact between its two stars. Those barbed exchanges, freighted with betrayal, testing the bonds of brotherhood to see where they are broken and where they might be repaired, are the beating heart of Oelhoffen’s film, and Schoenaerts and Kateb’s superb flinty chemistry deserves more development than it can possibly get in a few sparky encounters. After just three films (his debut “In Your Wake” was a father-son redemption and reconnection tale), Oelhoffen’s wheelhouse is firmly established: two-hander dramas, set against a genre backdrop, in which old-fashioned masculine ideals and codes can be investigated and explored. There is certainly life in those old tropes yet, but if his aim with “Close Enemies” was to deliver more than a solid, grimily generic policier , he’d have done well to take heed of the old adage and keep these enemies closer still.

Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 1, 2018. Running time: 111 MIN. (Original title: "Frères Ennemis")

• Production: (France-Belgium) A One World Films, BAC Films, Versus Production production. (Int'l Sales: BAC Films, Paris) Producer: Marc du Pontavice.
• Crew: Director: David Oelhoffen. Screenplay: Oelhoffen, Jeanne Aptekman. Camera (color, widescreen): Guillaume Deffontaines. Editor: Anne-Sophie Bion. Music: Superpoze.
• With: Matthias Schoenaerts, Reda Kateb, Adel Bencherif, Sofiane Zermani, Ahmed Benaissa, Nicolas Giraud, Omar Salim, Marc Barbe, Sabrina Ouazani, Gwendolyn Gourvenec, Astrid Whettnall (French, Arabic dialogue)

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