Le Havre
Aki Kaurismäki | Finland | 2011
93 min
Le Havre is about an old man, a young illegal immigrant and the police investigator who doggedly pursues them. Despite seeming like a film that presents a dire situation, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki mixes deadpan humour, verbal wit and sure fire optimism to make the experience both oddly chirpy and easily enjoyable.
Fusing his fascination of Jean-Pierre Melville (many of the characters wear trench coats and fedora hats) and odd, offbeat dialogues (Kaurismäki is also the writer), Le Havre is about Marcel Marx, a shoeshiner in the port city of Le Havre, who finds himself drawn to the plight of a young African, Idrissa, who is stranded in the city after the shipping container in which he illegally arrives is detained by local police. Max shelters the boy, but a relentless investigator suspects their association and makes it his purpose to find Idrissa and have him arrested. Marcel, always bearing a sunny disposition, has to hatch a plan to get Idrissa reunited back with his family without being caught.
The film’s tone is curiously amusing. The characters seem sad and lonely but always content. Max’s wife is stricken with illness while he is under constant debt, but none of this seems to damping his spirit. All of the characters, in whatever situation they are shown in, exhibit a strange calmness. In this way the tone evokes memories of Jim Jarmusch’s idiosyncrasies and quirkiness but feeling more natural and less moody. While the film is uplifting, it is also layered and takes jabs at the refugee situation in France (the Sangatte refugee camp has a passing reference, while a Vietnamese associate of Max is constant referred to as a Chinese). Just the way the Max finds renewed purpose and energy in his quest to help a stranger, the film has an instinctive way of turning even the most insignificant of situations (such as bar room banter) into droll circumstances. Le Havre therefore feels fresh and invigorating and reiterates the notion that with a positive disposition, even the grim and mundane can’t let down the human spirit.
