Romain D. was accidentally caught in the claws of history when he was hit in the head during the manifestations for the labor law in Paris, in 2016. He ends up in coma, will survive but with traumatisms that will follow his entire life. His life, and his parents´ and family, are turning him from an anonymous citoyen into the forefront of media and political imbroglio.
La Manif - The Protest, in my free translation - by screenwriter, actress and writer Nelly Alard is a story of a young man jumping to fame, for all the wrong reasons, but also of political intrigue and mutual support of institutions, also from all the wrong reasons.
The details of the story are chiselled with a lot of attention to ambiance and psychological details, delving into specific character traits and personal details and history of the characters. There will be a ´before´ and an ´after´ and this is just because of the act of police violence.
Elegantly, Alard introduce the contemporary context that most likely in our times more than ever has the potential to jeopardize lives. We may be very close to events, but this comes usually with a risk. Romain´s D. life was shaked to its roots by his curiosity towards the world. The state, no matter where, has its own survival methods and being alone against the system means nothing more than, in fact, you cannot win over the system.
I enjoyed reading La Manif, as it resonates at a great extent to my thoughts about the intersection between private and political realms. As I already mentioned few posts ago, every single book in French I´ve read this year was a pleasure for my curious mind, and I still have some more book recommendations to share.
Rating: 5 stars
