2023-09-01 20:32:04
Returning to the true story of Marseille police officers accused of corruption, Bac Nord caused controversy when it was released in cinemas in 2021.
France 2 Sunday September 3 at 9:10 p.m.
9/16 | Prohibited for children under 12
[Mis à jour le 3 septembre 2023 à 20h32] One of the hit films of 2021 is to be discovered this Sunday on France 2. When it was released two years ago, Bac Nord achieved more than 2.2 million admissions in France over 18 weeks of operation. However, the feature film which looks back on the true story of an anti-crime brigade from Marseille accused of corruption has not failed to suffer several controversies.
Praised for its staging and its trio of actors, the feature film was notably criticized by certain media on the way in which it represented the inhabitants of the cities north of Marseille and more broadly the way in which it depicts the suburbs. La Croix, who had praised several aspects of the film in his review, notably deplored that the film “shows only the cities as areas of lawlessness, places of all dangers”: “It is a pity that his film is missing if cruel empathy for its inhabitants, the first victims of the violence committed there”. When Télérama speaks of “malaise”, Le Monde notes that “by the dramatic turn given to the story, Jimenez seems to see in these rogue cops only good professionals who are victims of their hierarchy. A somewhat easy and dubious way to rehabilitate them. “
Recovery by the far right
During the film’s press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, a journalist had not failed to say that the film encouraged people to vote for the far right because it offered an empathetic vision of the police officers involved while presenting the inhabitants of cited as “beasts”, which caused the film crew to laugh wildly: “I don’t think the film is there to denounce areas of lawlessness and to stir up anger, Cédric Jimenez then replied . On the contrary. I tell the anger because I chose the point of view of the police.”
However, at the time of its theatrical release, North ferry did not fail to provoke the praise of certain personalities of the French extreme right, in particular Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour. The director then denounced this “pure political recovery” while recalling that the film relates “a police affair” and not life in the housing estates. Cédric Jimenez also said he was “embarrassed” when the film was screened by the Alliance police union before a meeting with candidates for the 2022 presidential election: “It’s disturbing, it bothers me a lot, because “A film remains a cinematographic work and it cannot become a political object”, reacted the director to France Inter.
Synopsis – In 2012, the northern districts of Marseille reached record crime rates in France. It is in this area that the BAC Nord, the anti-crime brigade, intervenes. Faced with pressure from the hierarchy, the team members try to increase their results. Agents develop their own, often unethical, methods. In this obscure sector, the boundaries between crimes and the exercise of duty sometimes turn out to be very fine. The brigade is not worried until the day when the agents find themselves in the crosshairs of the judicial administration…
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