I procrastinate. I am world-class at it. It has taken me nearly two hours to write these few words. I found a recent quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson “Do the thing and you will have the power”. I am trying to incorporate this idea into every fibre of my being, with mixed success, but life is about progression, not perfection, or at least I keep telling myself that.
Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano latest film The Extraordinary (That is what it is being called in New Zealand, its original french title is Hors Normes) explore two people who dive headfirst into the complicated world of medical care for some of the most marginalised people in our society. Those with serve autistic and mental health problems that have no voice for themselves and few champions to take up their cause.
Two of their champions are Bruno Haroche (Vincent Cassel) and Malik (Reda Kateb), these men from different backgrounds, Bruno Jewish and Malik Muslim, who both battle the system and the challenges of providing care and meaning to the lives of people that society, in general, has disregarded.
Nakache and Toledano have already established their chops within the dramatisation of real people and real stories with their amazing film The Intouchables. And where that was a much more intimate story of a man of means learning to live life from a man with no means. The Extraordinary is a much wider story looking into how the institutions that are said to protect the vulnerable potentially let those vulnerable down by the rigamarole of bureaucracy.
Bruno and Malik are not portrayed as saints or heroes, just two men trying to do their best, and similarly, the government officials trying to figure out if what Bruno is doing is safe are not villains, just people doing their job. This does not create a personification of an antagonist to root against, but, rather an acknowledgement that we are all in a system and that good and evil is very relative.
Likewise, the marketing material for this film talks about the religious differences between these Bruno and Malik. I think this is trying to create a false dichotomy that different beliefs create different values. These men are drawn together for what they value and how they want to treat those around them.
Now comes the confusing part. Is it a good film? I do not know. I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Intouchables, I found that much more entertaining, it was a more traditional narrative that left you walking out of the cinema happy. The Extraordinary is not a happy film when the credits rolled people just state there. It was a moving film, it made you think, it made you feel, which is the sign of a successful film, but was it good?
I sat for a few moments after the images of all the real people came up on the screen and contemplated what I felt. I did not feel happy, but I felt hopeful. Potentially that is more important. Happiness is a transient state and human nature is much too melancholic to stay in a perpetual state of bliss. So do I recommend you see this film, probably not, do I think its a story you should be aware of and experience, absolutely.
Burno and Malik did the thing and got the power, I hope I can follow their lead and progress towards being more like them and so I am glad I saw this film.
Dec 11, 2019
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe