Les Indésirables: A depiction of segregation and hopelessness in a Parisian suburb

The topic of social inequalities has often been represented in cinema, where movies are a powerful tool to show the struggle between different groups in society. In Les Indésirables, film director Ladj Ly shows on screen this socio-political clash between the residents of a banlieue on the outskirts of Paris and the new political fraction of the city. 

The neighbourhood of Montfermeil, situated in the North-East of Paris, is mainly inhabited by immigrants, often illegal, who live in very miserable, slum-like conditions. The politicians governing the city have always wanted to get rid of the people living in these apartments, which have grown into ghettos, to be able to rent them for more than the double price, consequently forcing these people to look for cheaper houses even further from the city. One of the residents living in this neighbourhood, Haby, considered as a fighter for the rights of the people of Montfermeil, tries to oppose this plan by running for the local elections. She is up against the white interim mayor, Pierre, a rich man who completely ignores the voices of the suburb’s residents. However, when one of the apartments sets on fire one day, the local council uses it as an excuse to evacuate the residents, forcing them out on to the streets in an inhumane manner. Suddenly, all the resentment and pain suffered by this invisible and ignored group of citizens, escalates into violence between them and the politicians in power. 

This movie makes us reflect about what it means to be someone living outside of society, with no say in local policies, a slave of the current political system. Social inequalities, which are growing especially in big cities, and racism are at the basis of this segregation between first-class and second-class citizens, where the latter are often vulnerable, poor people and immigrants. Director Ladj Ly, who also comes from this Parisian banlieue, wanted to show how gentrification is also used as a tool by the privileged people in power to get rid of the lower social class. By removing these communities from their neighbourhoods, you push them away even further from the city, to make them disappear. Segregation is then often used by the people in power to get rid of unsolved social problems, highlighting the inhumane side of politicians who have no idea what it means to be a second class citizen and live in poverty and misery.

In one scene of the movie, the character Blaz, a resident of the slums, asks the wife of the white interim mayor: “Do you know what it means to be kicked out of your house and end up in the street with nothing?”, and she responds “No, I have no idea what it means”. This is one of the problems concerning the wealthy people in power: they cannot empathize with unprivileged communities, and they cannot imagine what it means to live in such miserable conditions. If they would know what it means, and they would experience it, maybe, there would be a chance they would act differently, and finally give voice to them.

After the success of his two films Les Misérables and Les Indésirables, Ly decided to invest money in the project Kourtrajmé, a film course for the people living in the Montfermeil banlieue. The course trains them in filmmaking and gives them a possibility to show on screen the social inequalities present in society and their fight for visibility. Projects like these give power to the underprivileged people at the bottom of society and let their voices be heard, in the hope that, by seeing their conditions, other people would also understand the harsh reality in which we live.