The Kid with the Bike (2010)

Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne's new film is a gem. The Kid with a Bike stays true to the style the brothers have developed throughout their careers, but it still brings in a new sense of hope. As in most of the Dardenne films, moral questions are dealt with in a down-to-earth, yet unflinching way. Unlike most European contemporary indie directors, the Dardennes have no interest in mystification, in keeping things alluringly vague. In some sense, the cards are on the table, there is no "subtext", whatever the hell that would mean. The situation the Dardennes take an interest in are always somehow open-ended. But they rarely conjure up a sense of ambiguity.
 
In the first scene, we see a kid trying to make a telephone call. A bunch of adults do their best to convince him to hang up, that there will be no reply. But the kid is stubborn. That call has to be made. From the first minute onwards, every scene bristles with urgency. The kid runs around, the camera sticks closely to his movements. Early on, we understand that the kid lives in a foster home, and that he wants to get in touch with his father. By accident, the boy meets a woman, Samantha, who he adopts as his parent. The main themes of the film, relations between parents and children, responsibility for a child, is treated with the Dardenne's signature style: no hint of sentimentality, an understanding uf human beings as active. Their characters are often fighting against stifling surroundings, battling impossible situation, sometimes foolishly, sometimes rashly. The point is how the Dardennes manage to create very acute portraits of human life. Where most film directors focus on Big Decisions that have severe consequences and a painful background, the Dardenees more often set for the small-big situation in which people just act, in which things are constantly happening, in which people get disappointed, jaded, or in which their trust is expressed or in which trust is felt as a burden. During some moments, I was worried that the film gave a too romantic interpretation of Samantha. But in the end, I would not say that this is a film about Women being Responsible. Gender plays a very minor role in the relationship of Samantha and the boy. Or that is what I think.

One more thing about the way the Dardennes dodge sentimentality. In their earlier work, music has often been completely lacking. Here, we here a short snippet of Beethoven (I think) now and then. But it is only a snippet. Instead of tugging at the viewer's supposed heartstrings, this is more like a signal of an ending of a segment. A form of punctuation.