Young Ahmed (French: Le Jeune Ahmed) is a 2019 Belgian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film revolves around a young Muslim boy from Belgium who plots to murder his teacher in the name of his religion.[4] It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[5] At Cannes the Dardenne brothers won the award for Best Director.[6]
| Young Ahmed | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| French | Le Jeune Ahmed |
| Directed by | Luc Dardenne Jean-Pierre Dardenne |
| Written by | Jean-Pierre Luc Dardenne |
| Produced by | Jean-Pierre Dardenne Luc Dardenne Denis Freyd |
| Starring | Idir Ben Addi |
| Cinematography | Benoît Dervaux |
| Edited by | Marie-Hélène Dozo Tristan Meunier |
Production companies | Les Films du Fleuve Archipel 35 |
| Distributed by | Cinéart (Belgium) Diaphana Films (France) |
Release dates | |
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Countries | Belgium France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $1.5 million[2][3] |
Plot
editAhmed, a 13-year-old, plots to kill his teacher, whom he believes to be an apostate after being radicalised by a local imam. Ahmed is arrested and sent to juvenile detention, where he claims to be a reformed character.
Cast
edit- Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed
- Olivier Bonnaud as Caseworker
- Myriem Akheddiou as Inès
- Victoria Bluck as Louise
- Claire Bodson as Mother
- Othmane Moumen as Imam Youssouf
- Amine Hamidou as Rachid
- Yassine Tarsimi as Abdel
- Frank Onana as Fouad
- Laurent Caron as Mathieu
- Annette Closset as Sandrine
- Marc Zinga as Juge
- Ben Hamidou as Amine
- Monia Douieb as Amina
Reception
editOn review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 82 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Young Ahmed doesn't represent the Dardennes brothers' most developed work, but solid acting and a socially conscious story help compensate for its flaws."[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]
Accolades
edit| Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival[9] | Palme d'Or | Nominated | |
| Best Director | Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne | Won | |
| César Award[10] | Best Foreign Film | Nominated | |
| Lumières Award[11] | Best International Film | Nominated | |
| Magritte Award[12] | Best Film | Nominated | |
| Best Director | Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay | Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Othmane Moumen | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Myriem Akheddiou | Won | |
| Claire Bodson | Nominated | ||
| Most Promising Actor | Idir Ben Addi | Won | |
| Most Promising Actress | Victoria Bluck | Nominated | |
| Best Editing | Marie-Hélène Dozo | Nominated | |
| Valladolid International Film Festival[13] | Best Film | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay | Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne | Won | |
| Best Editing | Marie-Hélène Dozo and Tristan Meunier | Won |
References
edit- ^ "The Screenings Guide 2019". 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Young Ahmed (2020)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- ^ "Young Ahmed (2020)". The Numbers. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- ^ "'Young Ahmed' Trailer: The Dardennes Craft A Controversial Film About A Radicalized Muslim Teen That's Heading To Cannes". theplaylist.net. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- ^ "Cannes festival 2019: full list of films". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ "Bong Joon-ho's Parasite wins Palme d'Or at Cannes film festival". The Guardian. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "Young Ahmed (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "Young Ahmed Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ "Bong Joon-ho's Parasite Wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes". Variety. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (29 January 2020). "Roman Polanski's 'An Officer And A Spy' tops César nominations". Screen Daily. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ^ Lemercier, Fabien (3 December 2019). "Les Misérables domine les nominations pour les Lumières" (in French). Cineuropa. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ Dricot, Lucy (1 February 2020). "Découvrez le palmarès complet de la 10e cérémonie des Magritte du cinéma" (in French). RTBF. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ Rivera, Alfonso (29 October 2019). "This Year's Seminci Golden Spike Is Bound for Mongolia". Cineuropa. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
External links
edit- Young Ahmed at IMDb