Une enfance

During a particularly difficult summer, Jimmy, a 13-year-old boy, is forced to grow up in order to fight the misfortunes of his life.

It's part of the genre in which the story is the main factor, and the way we look at it and interpret it. It is quite slow, perhaps boring for many people, but it is part of the way the plot unfolds, and what it is like to be in the shoes of someone who has no dreams, goals or even a home.

The dialogues are not elaborated, they go straight for what's important, and that's a good thing for the film, which lives on the simplicity and humanity of the people it portrays.

It should be noted that the cast features professional and amateur actors, and the gap between them is hardly noticed.

The social problems scrutinized in Une Enfance are transversal to several European societies (and in several other parts of the globe), however, I feel that it is one of those melodramas that always work better in French, I cannot explain why.