Nocturama (2016)
Directed by Bertrand Bonello

Film Review

Nocturama was released in France on 31st August 2016 - just over a month after a one-man terrorist incident in Nice that left 84 people dead during the Bastille Day celebrations.  The previous November had seen an even bloodier terrorist attack, 130 people slaughtered by gunmen and suicide bombers at several sites across Paris.  And before this there was the horrific attack on the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 by Jihadists.  Against this litany of carnage Nocturama was bound to be a controversial film.  It depicts a disparate group of seemingly ordinary young people committing terrorist attacks in Paris without any apparent motive.  A mix of well-heeled students, housing estate riff-raff and young professionals, the terrorists do not seem to have any political or religious axe to grind.  Their attack appears to be gratuitous - an act of outrage committed for the sake of it.  And this is what makes the film so provocative and disturbing.  It accords with something quite chilling in the present air du temps - a sense that we are now entering a new Dark Age - an era of moronic anarchy.

Bertrand Bonello conceived this film way before the recent wave of terrorist attacks in France, whilst he was working on his fin de siècle drama L'Apollonide in 2011.  He even drafted the first version of the script around this time, but it took him five years before he was ready to bring it into production.  By this time the world had changed, and was still changing, moving into even more uncertain waters.  The surprising results of the EU referendum in the UK and the American presidential election were the most momentous events of 2016 - and these, both acts of popular revolt against the establishment, align more readily with Bonello's film than the terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.  And, with the Far Right gaining ever more support across Europe, there may be far bigger shocks to come.

The odd assortment of terrorists in Nocturama collectively embody the nebulous discontent that is bubbling up in western society at the moment.  Black and white, smart and scruffy, the only thing these individuals have in common is that they are all young - under the age of thirty.  In every generation, the young have always rebelled, but this group of youngsters seem to be rebelling without any apparent cause.  They bomb a prominent symbol of capitalism - the HSBC tower - and yet, once the attack is over, they luxuriate in the fruits of capitalism, taking full advantage of the facilities offered by their hideout, the swankiest department store in town. In what seems like an exact replay of the second part of George A. Romero's classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978), the terrorists, instead of fleeing to safety, make themselves sacrificial victims to consumerism by surrendering to an orgy of materialistic excess.  As Paris burns around them - with striking symbols of commerce, government and culture all touched by flame - they grab that part of the consumer gateau that they feel is theirs by right.

After the cold realism of the first half of the film, where Bonello films the terrorists' meticulous preparations with total detachment, what comes next is quite a shock.  We are suddenly immersed in a dreamlike fantasy that conveys the illusion of consumer well-being in its most concentrated form. Gradually, we begin to discern what was behind the attacks - an overwhelming need to live the consumer dream to the full.  What more powerful incentive could there be than for someone to be exposed to consumer hype of the most virulent kind every waking hour of the day?  Surely no amount of religious indoctrination could be half as effective in warping an individual's psychology and making him or her a danger to society?  What Bertrand Bonello shows us in his most revelatory and timely film to date is a prophecy of terrifying proportions.  The greatest threat to western civilisation comes not from religious fundamentalists, but from a system that brainwashes us into thinking that we can have everything, if only we had the money. Consumerism will be the death of western democracy - and probably sooner than you think.

Film Synopsis

It is a morning in Paris like any other.  The streets and the Metro are crowded as usual with people rushing in to work, scarcely noticing the world around them.  In the midst of this milling throng several young people who appear to have nothing in common exchange cryptic messages on their mobile phones and carry out a set of agreed tasks, completely unnoticed.  Not long afterwards, several bombs go off around the capital, causing mayhem and destruction.  By this time, the individuals behind the attacks are in hiding in a large department store.  After the store has closed for the night, David, Sabrina, Sarah, Mika, Yacine and Omar emerge from their hiding places and begin to take advantage of the luxuries that the store offers them.  As the world outside takes stock of the attack and asks who could have committed it, the perpetrators spend an evening of hedonistic excess within their well-stocked refuge, not knowing that the party will soon be over...