- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
'Greek tragedy' set in France's neglected suburbs electrifies Venice
Civil war sparks with lightning speed in Romain Gavras' film about riots in Paris' neglected suburbs, but don't ask the director to take sides on the violence plaguing France's tough "banlieues".
"It's not a film about police against youth," Gavras told AFP Saturday at the Venice Film Festival, adding that he did not consider his movie a political statement.
The French director imagines the youth insurrection in one of the countless gritty high-rise neighbourhoods ringing urban centres as a Greek tragedy in "Athena", giving heft and timelessness to one of France's most intractable social problems.
In the vein of 1995's "La Haine" or 2019's "Les Miserables", whose director here serves as producer and co-writer, "Athena" gives us a front-row seat inside the explosive suburbs as they careen towards chaos for a frenzied 24 hours, to tragic effect.
"I don't think I make films that have a message, I think I make films that try to transmit emotions," said Gavras, the son of fiercely political film-maker Costa-Gavras.
"When you work through emotions, with symbolism, you're more moved," he said.
France has struggled for decades to integrate its grim housing project neighbourhoods, home to a racially mixed community of mostly first- and second-generation immigrants.
Long neglected, and marked by high unemployment and few opportunities, the "banlieues" are prone to recurring social unrest and tensions with the police, exacerbated by episodes of police brutality.
- Enraged -
Not one minute into Gavras' film, all hell breaks loose.
The youth of Paris' projects are enraged over the latest episode of police brutality against one of their own and brazenly attack a police station.
From the moment the first molotov cocktail is thrown, Gavras never lets up the tension, capturing the euphoria, fear, recklessness and danger as the situation spirals out of control.
At the centre of the drama is a story of three brothers, whose differing responses to tragedy fuel the action.
Abdel, played by Dali Benssalah, is a soldier who returns home to his restive neighbourhood to attend his brother's funeral. His attempts to diffuse tensions in his neighbourhood are thwarted by younger brother Karim, newcomer Sami Slimane.
Older brother Mokhtar (Ouassini Embarek), meanwhile, is focused on keeping his drug-dealing business afloat as the violence escalates.
"This familial anger spills over to a group of people and a neighbourhood and a nation," Gavras said.
Images in the film -- such as the young rioters stripped to their waist and kneeling before police or officers hurling tear gas cannisters into crowds of protesters at close range -- are easily identifiable from recent events in France.
But weighing in on how to fix the cycle of violence is not his job, Gavras said.
"I make images, I have no solution, I am not a politician," Gavras said.
"I don't know if films can stop the anger," he added.
"On the other hand, giving a vision, like Greek tragedy does, of a dark future, that's interesting."
J.Bondarev--CPN