La Promesse- Exploitation, Death and A Promise
- Note: Spoilers Present.
The Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, made their strong mark on the international film communities with the success of La Promesse (1996). Prior to making narrative films, Dardenne brothers worked extensively on documentaries, depicting and commenting on the lives of the people of the rural Belgian societies including the suburb of Liege where the film is shot. Their subjects matters included factory workers, Polish immigrants, and people living in housing projects. La Promesse is a film that plays out like a documentary. The handheld camera techniques, realistic and simplistic Mise-en-scène, and the actors who almost look like they live and breathe like the characters they are playing give the film a certain look and a feel that are simply engaging and unique.
The narrative structure is pretty straightforward: Roger and his son Igor exploit undocumented immigrants who come to Belgium, but an unfortunate accident turns into a murder and changes Igor’s life completely. The accident/murder affects four people’s lives the most: Roger, Igor, Hamidou ad Assita (including Assita’s son with Assita). The narrative explores various facets of humanity: greed, exploitation, kindness, benevolence. Our protagonist, Igor does not live a “normal life.” He follows, his father, Roger around and agrees to all of his commands readily. He spends most of his time helping Roger operate and manage a rental house where they house the undocumented immigrants. The relationship between Roger and Igor can be seen just as of business partners of a small housing company. They share intimate and cheerful moments while smoking cigarettes, singing together at a bar, and driving. However, most of their time is spent dealing with immigrants. Before the the first major plot point, Igor is identical to his father. He talks and works like his father. He never questions his motives or morality. Other than hanging out with two of this friends to build a motorbike, all he does is look up-to his father.
This unwavering fascination ends with an unfortunate incident. An immigrant worker, Hamoudi, gets fatally injured after falling from the house while running away from immigration officers. His wife Assita and son have just arrived a few days ago to join him in Liege. During his final moment, knowing that he won’t survive, Hamoudi pleads with Igor to look after his family if he dies. Igor promises him that he will. When Roger finds both Igor and Hamoudi, rather than taking Hamoudi to the hospital as suggested by Igor, he buries his body with the help of Hamoudi in the courtyard and pours concrete over it. Igor, startled and shook, unable to fathom what is happening instinctively follows and joins his father like everytime. However, this particular incident is almost like any other known coming-of-age moment for Igor. He untangles himself from his father’s orders and helps Assita secretly. He starts acting and behaving like a child that he is. He starts showing empathy towards a human being whom he previously just viewed as a commodity.
While Igor’s character arc is going upwards, Assita’s life starts falling apart slowly after her husband disappears. Assita encapsulates entire immigrant experiences. She shows unwavering faith in her beliefs even in a foreign land; she finds it difficult to trust people in a foreign land; she has lived apart from her husband looking after their son waiting to be with him. These are all too familiar experiences and emotions for most of the immigrants in the world. Assita is a representation of movement. She is continually on the move. First to meet her husband, second to find her lost husband and third to move to a relatively safer and better life.
When Igor and Assita’s worlds collide, they must both learn to accept the new faces that they are living with. Assita does not have Hamoudi next to her; she has Igor. Igor does not have Roger next to him; he has Assita. The resistance they face in trying to comprehend the unknown, especially Assita, is evident in the way they act with each other. However, these seemingly evident resistances knock over one by one when they both realize that they only have each other. Igor sells his ring that his father gave him, uses his own money to pay for Assita’s son hospital bills and saves Assita from being sold into prostitution whereas Assita starts trusting Igor, and allows him to help her. However, his help is incomplete as he still hides from Assita the fact that her husband is dead. He has revolted in every possible way against his father but this one lie still has him chained to his father.
The film culminates with the truth. The truth that we had known all along is finally revealed to Assita. The first time throughout the film Assita’s movement comes to a halt by her own choice. Similarly, the dramatic revelation also breakaways the last chain that held Igor closer to Roger. Therefore, the film ends in a complete sense. However, the film does not disclose the aftermath of the final scene as anticipated by the audiences. There are no cries or whining. There is silence. The film ends with the truth which most of the times brings silence.
