France: Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo

Le Pen Dept: The film has been a massive hit with Europeans 20 million people have seen it in France since it came out in 2011 and earned actor Omar Sy a Cesar, making him the first black ever to win France s Oscar. Some observers have seen the movie as a metaphor for the country itself, with an immobilized France, old and white, reinvigorated by the ethnic youth of the suburbs. When asked about that interpretation by a journalist, the anti-immigrant Le Pen rose to the bait and denounced any notion of France as a handicapped nation needing rescue through immigration, according to Globe and Mail. Nakache and Toledano can swat away Le Pen as one would a fly, but they are clearly stung by the American reaction and spent much of a recent interview in Toronto explaining how the film should be seen in a European rather than American context and the Parisian directors based the film on the true story of the relationship between the paraplegic French businessman Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his Algerian caregiver, reincarnating the servant as Driss, a happy-go-lucky Senegalese immigrant and petty criminal from Paris s notorious high-rise suburbs who only applies for the job to get a stamp on his unemployment insurance form. In the film, the mismatched pair change each other s lives as the demanding and depressive Philippe learns to lighten up while the irrepressible Driss learns to take responsibility for himself and others, but the depiction of the relationship has divided critics from audiences. On the other hand, American critics have been very uncomfortable with the depiction of Driss as someone utterly lacking in cultural knowledge and basic manners he disrupts an opera performance with loud, derisive laughter and especially with a scene in which Driss entertains Philippe by changing the music at a staid party and dancing wildly to some funk. Variety called the movie offensive, saying it flings about the kind of Uncle Tom racism one hopes has permanently exited American screens. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.