District 13

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District 13

Directed by	Pierre Morel
Produced by	Luc Besson Bernard Grenet
Written by	Luc Besson Bibi Naceri
Starring	Cyril Raffaelli David Belle Tony D'Amario Bibi Naceri Dany Verissimo
Distributed by	EuropaCorp (France)
Release date(s)	November 10, 2004
Running time	85 minutes
Language	French
Gross revenue	$9,391,937
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

District B13 is the translated title of the English-subtitled release of a 2004 French action film, Banlieue 13, directed by Pierre Morel and produced by Luc Besson.^[1] The North American release title appears as District B13.^[2] The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of stunt sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects. Because of this, one critic has drawn comparisons to the popular Thai film Ong-Bak.^[3] David Belle, a co-founder of Parkour, appears in the film as one of the main characters.

1 Synopsis
2 Plot summary
3 Cast
4 Political context
5 Trivia
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

Synopsis

An acrobatic urban avenger and a kickboxing supercop team up to save an infamous ghetto from a gang lord armed with a nuclear weapon.

Plot summary

In 2010, a Parisian slum (Banlieue) called District 13, becomes overrun by gangsters, drugs and guns. The authorities have walled off the district and abandoned it, forcing the decent inhabitants to survive without education, proper utilities, or police protection. One resident, Leïto, has waged a one-man war against the gang lord Taha to keep his building safe. He has captured a large quantity of cocaine, which incites Taha to send his thugs to recover the merchandise. Leïto destroys the cocaine and uses his acrobatic skills (These skills are part of the earlier mentioned discipline called Parkour) to evade Taha's thugs. Taha kidnaps Leïto's sister Lola to use against him, but Leïto manages to invade Taha's base, rescue his sister, and kidnap Taha in turn. Leïto takes Taha to the police office at the edge of the district perimeter, but the police are already abandoning their position and let Taha go to avoid a confrontation with his gang. Instead, they arrest Leïto and give his sister to Taha. Leito desperately punches and forces his cell door while Taha takes his sister away. Blinded by fury he kills the police chief who handed over his sister while he was attempting to consolate Leito, he pushes his head through the cell bars and violentally break his neck by forcing his head against a sharp cell bar while hitting him with his knee. This scene/move was fan-named "Knee Guillotine" Six months later, outside of District 13, an undercover police officer named Damien infiltrates a gangster's underground casino and attempts to arrest the gangster. His extraction procedure fails, however, forcing him to fight his way through an army of thugs to escape the casino. Upon the mission's completion, Damien immediately receives another assignment. He is told that Taha has stolen a nuclear weapon that is set to detonate in 24 hours. His mission is to convince Leïto, imprisoned these last six months for murdering the police chief, to lead him to Taha's base so that he can disarm the bomb.

David Belle in a chase sequence from Banlieue 13.

Damien attempts to pass himself off as a fellow prisoner and helps Leïto escape to B13, but Leïto sees through Damien's act and abandons him. After fighting off some of the local toughs, Damien locates Leïto and tells him the truth. They team up to disarm the bomb and rescue Lola. The pair surrenders to Taha in order to gain access to his base. There, they discover that Taha has rigged the warhead to a launcher and is prepared to blackmail the government with it. Taha demands a high ransom, which Damien's government contact refuses. The pair escape, and while Taha's thugs pursue them, he discovers that the government has emptied all of his offshore accounts. Bankrupt, Taha is killed by his own thugs. Leïto and Damien fight their way to the tower holding Lola and the bomb. Once there, Damien calls his contact to receive the deactivation code. Leïto recognizes the code as a reference to the bomb's location and the day's date. He deduces that the government has set them up and the code will actually detonate the bomb. He fights Damien to prevent him from entering the code. The timer runs out and the bomb does not detonate, proving Leïto's theory. The pair return to the government building with the bomb and force the administrator to admit that he had planned to blow up B13 as a means to get rid of it. The confession has been taped and is immediately broadcast by pirate television transmission. The pair's actions cause a major scandal that sparks public support for B13. Leïto and Damien depart as friends.

Cast

Cyril Raffaelli as Damien, a tough undercover police officer who believes in law and government.
David Belle as Leïto, an acrobatic ghetto-dweller who fights the gangs and feels cheated by the system.
Bibi Naceri as Taha, a major gang lord in District 13 who is prone to killing his own thugs.
Tony D'Amario as K2, a mountainous thug employed by Taha.
Dany Verissimo as Lola, Leïto's equally defiant sister.

Political context

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In 2005, the year after the film's release in France, major riots erupted throughout the real "banlieues" and housing projects of Paris, then spreading to other towns. The riots and car burnings received worldwide press attention and were seen by many as an expression of anger and hopelessness from the primarily Arab and black residents of the city's poorer areas. These so-called suburbs ("banlieues") outline the central districts of Paris, although as opposed to world of the film, no wall exists to separate them into an official ghetto. However, as in the film, these areas are widely seen as ignored or feared by more prosperous elements in French society. They are often under the control of gangs, and poverty and unemployment are rampant, many blaming them on employers' discrimination. Set only six years in the future from its release date, the banlieues of the film were obviously based on modern day reality. The French government struck back at the rioters with harsh rhetoric, with minister Nicolas Sarkozy causing the greatest controversy. The response of Sarkozy is comparable to the 'bad' politicians in the film, showing that the film highlights real concerns within the French suburbs and the motives for riots. Sarkozy used a similar word "scum" to the word used by the corrupt politician in the film to characterize residents of Banlieue 13.[1]. The word "Racaille", Scum, is most commonly used by the suburban youth as a tribal mark. In French slang it is translated as "Caillra", which can be seen as positive or neutral.

Trivia

In the scene where K2 tells Taha that Leito has returned to B13, Taha is watching a classic Ultimate Fighting Championship match featuring Tank Abbott.
In the scene where K2 and other Taha's foremen break into Leïto's building, their doormats were watching to a famous Brazilian soap opera, originally aired on 90s, featuring actors Antonio Fagundes and Regina Duarte.
David Belle co-invented the acrobatic style of urban movement known as parkour, which can be seen in the opening chase scene and when Leito outruns K2's men after destroying the heroin.
In a recent interview Luc Besson revealed that he had rejected an offer from a Hollywood movie studio for an American remake of District 13. However, he stated that a sequel was in the works, with David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli both set to reprise their roles.