Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Céline Sallette, Mélanie Doutey, Guillaume Gouix, Benoît Magimel, Bruno Todeschini, Moussa Maaskri, Féodor Atkine, Pierre Lopez, Éric Collado, Cyril Lecomte, Jean-Pierre Sanchez, Georges Neri.
The dark side of humanity’s consumption and need for stimulus has arguably always been close to cinema’s heart. From the days of early film to the golden age of the art form in which the Noir became king and through to the 1970s when humanity was under the pressure of unease and the drug culture became more apparent as Heroin became the narcotic choice, cinema has always reflected this darkness and given stark warning to the after effects of such crimes and punishments.
One of the great films of all time framed this culture perfectly. The French Connection remains one of the critical must see films of its kind and nothing has really given such insight since, however parallel to it is the story of Pierre Michel and his crusade against the drug cartels in his country and the shipment of Heroin across the Atlantic to New York.
The Connection is the story as seen from the French side of the 1970s dip into a drug perhaps more dangerous than anything than had hit the streets of Europe and America before. It is a story filled with tension and dishonour, of lies and disgrace, the fingers of the new breed of criminal it seems, able to infiltrate even the offices of the supposedly incorruptible and always it takes one person to put their foot down and say no more for the innocent to feel safe.
The Connection makes great stock of the interplay between the two main protagonists, Pierre Michel and Gaëtan “Tany” Zampa, portrayed by Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche. It is a pairing that works well on screen and more than makes up for the lack of feeling of realism that comes across in the police force trying to take down the suppliers of the new and deadly drug. The two actors, especially Dujardin, have the rare ability to have the same intensity that audiences credit De Niro and Pacino with but with a certain sophistication and complex superiority, it is the classic pose but genuine deep rooted acting ability.
Whilst nothing could capture the same cinematic integrity of The French Connection, The Connection is a worthy stand alongside film, one that really unsettles the soul and ruffles the seedy underbelly of life.
Ian D. Hall