Cannes: Finnish badboy skewers migrant paranoia

Cannes: Finnish badboy skewers migrant paranoia


Via AFP:

Aki Kaurismaki's surreal comedy about refugees in France premiered at Cannes on Tuesday, with the irreverent Finn sticking his fingers up at the irrational fear of foreigners sweeping Europe.

"Le Havre", in competition for the Palme d'Or, is set in the French port of the same name and tells the story of African child migrant Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) trying to reach his mother in London while being hunted by police.

Idrissa escapes from the port when police -- in riot gear and toting machine guns as per interior ministry orders -- turn up to detain migrant families discovered starving in a cargo container.

Police try to find the child, suspected of Al-Qaeda links according to the local newspaper, but he is rescued by former author Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms), a Bohemian who now works as a shoe-shiner in self-imposed exile from Paris.

(source)