Monsieur Ibrahim Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)May 19th, 2004
MONSIEUR IBRAHIM (2004)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Viewed on May 12th, 2004
RATING: Three stars and a half
"Monsieur Ibrahim" is the kind of film that recalls the neo-realism of the Italian cinema - it all takes place on a Parisian city street using an apartment and a grocery shop as its main focuses of action. That also means we have the typical Francois Truffaut kid of yesteryear (check out "400 Blows" as an example), the one who wants to see and live the world as an adult. There is also the gentle old man who knows the secrets to happiness, and so on. If you were a fan of "The Bicycle Thief" and "400 Blows" then, frankly, there is nothing here that would not provide an enlightening two hours of your time.
The Truffaut kid is Moses (Pierre Boulanger), a 16-year-old kid who wants a push out of his drab home. His angry father (Gilbert Melki) makes the kid wash the dishes, cook dinner and go grocery shopping. His father is so consumed by his own unhappiness (his wife had left him) that he forgets Moses's birthday, enabling the kid to make his dad remember by baking his own cake. Meanwhile, out on the Parisian streets, Moses frequents the grocery shop to talk to the owner, Monsieur Ibrahim (Omar Sharif) who knows the kid is stealing from him but he lets him get away with it, as long as he can call the kid Momo. There are also prostitutes out on the street whom Moses wants to sleep with - he uses the leftover money from the grocery store to pay for their services.
Now so far I have made no mention of Moses and Ibrahim's nationality. The simple reason is because it is irrelevant to their relationship. Having said that, Moses is Jewish and Ibrahim is Islamic and I suppose in this day and age, it is important to remember that racial boundaries do not always exists with people who need each other in some capacity (consider the American soldier and the Iraqi woman who have married recently in Iraq). Eventually, Moses's father splits, thinking he can't be a real father to his own son. The gentle Ibrahim takes him in, knowing all about Moses's family from the past. Ibrahim teaches the kid how to smile and how to enjoy slowness (the key to happiness) - something people in this country should start appreciating. The wise old man buys a red sports car and decides to go to his own hometown in Turkey, letting Moses tag along to discover a whole new world.
Most of "Monsieur Ibrahim" is compelling and almost magical in its depiction of a lost world we can only imagine. Most of the film is shot with a hand-held camera that allows us to watch and listen closely to its characters and their surroundings. There is a breathless moment in a church that will keep you captivated in ways only foreign films can manage to do so with sparse surroundings. My one gripe is the Parisian location - it looks like a street from a studio, not a real street in the neo-realism sense. Still, almost every shot is involving and inescapably clinging - you can't turn away from the screen.
In the latter regard, Omar Sharif has a sage-like appearance that keeps us glued to our theatre seats. The 71-year-old actor, best known for "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago," has the presence and authority of a man who has lived a full life. He wishes his life were better, and that he had more money, but he knows he at least lived a life. It is the sad irony that he misses his hometown that is part of the film's heart and soul. Sharif wraps it around with his astute sense of craftiness and wittiness (as well as the twinkle in his smile) that makes this one of the better looks at old age since "About Schmidt."
"Monsieur Ibrahim" is delicate, sentimental and magical. It is everything cinema once was and could still be. And Sharif makes it priceless.
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