The French Democracy
The French Democracy is a short film by French filmmaker Alex Chan. The film was made in the 2005 PC game "The Movies," a business simulation game that allowed users to create their own films using pre-rendered scenes and tells the story of three Moroccan immigrants in France who turn to rioting after facing different forms of discrimination. The film was made as a response to the 2005 French riots which resulted from the deaths of two young boys who were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation. The civil unrest called attention to racism in France and abusive policing tactics. On its release, The French Democracy sparked controversy in mainstream media both as a political statement and as an example of the then-emerging Machinima genre tackling mature, political themes.
From the archive
"The French Democracy," released mere weeks after the release of Lionhead's "The Movies," gives evidence for the potential of game movies as commentaries on current events. Inspired by the recent riots in the Parisian suburbs, this movie tells several stories about the victimization of French minority groups through harassment, job discrimination, and daily events and depicts circumstancs that make them feel like second-class citizens. Implicitly, this movie attempts to explain the tensions and emotions that fueled the riots. It also hits a note of deeply-felt sorrow for the loss of historical French ideals such as liberty and fraternity. The English subtitles, obviously written by a non-native writer, lend surprising authenticity and immediacy to the movie. -- HEL "Though 'The French Democracy' is a rough bit of work that might not win over many film critics, some folks are hailing it as a milestone for being the first politically motivated film in this newish and mostly obscure medium, called 'machinima' by its fans. Hugh Hancock, who runs a Web site called Machinima.com, rated the piece as 'a fantastic step forward.'" -- Mike Musgrove, Washington Post (1 Dec. 2005). "This is an original French movie about the recent French riots in the suburbs, it is also fully subtitled in English. A powerful film and very educational!" -- Planet The Movies (25 Nov. 2005) "This is a movie about the recent French riots in suburb. It is fully subtitled in english(sorry for my english, i had some training to do). I hope you will enjoy this movies and have a better understand of what is happening in my country!" -- Koulamata, The Movies website (22 Nov. 2005)
Why this is free to watch
The French Democracy (2005) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. No signup, no payment and no advertising interrupts playback. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Internet Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Alex Chan
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