HOP
THE HOP |
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Director:
Dominique Standaert
Screenplay: Dominique Standaert
Cast:
Justin: Kalomba Mboyi
Dieudonné: Anson Diedhiou
Frans: Jan Decleir
Gerda: Antje De Boeck
Running time: 104 minutes
Year of production: Belgium - 2000
Rating: Not rated (general public)
Gauge: DVD (color)
Language: French and Flemish
Distributor: Film Movement
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Dominique
Standaert on why he shot in black and white:
“There are three reasons for this. The first is that
I like it a lot. The second is that I wanted the story
to exist outside of reality. Things are plausible but
not true. The third reason is that in black and white
one works with contrast, nothing else.” |
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Justin and
his father Dieudonné are illegal African immigrants
living in Brussels. One night, during a crucial soccer match,
Justin rigs up the cable feed from downstairs so that he and
his father can watch their soccer hero, Congolese player Emile
M’Penza. Their neighbors, unable to get reception on
their television, come upstairs to protest and throw Justin’s
TV out the window. The police are called to the apartment
complex. Dieudonné is caught quickly and after an unsuccessful
attempt to hide his identity, he is slated for deportation.
Justin narrowly escapes and is taken in by a retired anarchist
and his girlfriend. Together they help Justin get his father
back in unexpected ways, using fake terrorist threats and
Justin’s hero Emile M’Penza to get attention from
the police and city officials. In The Hop, Dominique
Standaert treats the subject of childhood and immigrant life
with great humor, alternating tragic situations with comic
details. What could have been a dramatically somber social
film turns out to be an uplifting and morally rich tale. Standaert
manages to avoid the clichés one often find in films
dealing with immigration.
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| PHOTO Film
Movement |
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