24 Days (2014)

French screenwriter, producer and director Alexandre Arcady's seventeenth feature film which he produced and wrote with French screenwriters Antoine Lacomblez and Emilie Frèche, is an adaptation of a book from 2009 by Ruth Halimi and French author and screenwriter Emilie Frèche. It premiered in France, was shot on locations in France and is a French production. It tells the story about a mother named Ruth, a father named Didier Halimi and their son named Ilan Halimi.Distinctly and precisely directed by French filmmaker Alexandre Arcady, this quietly paced and somewhat fictional tale which is narrated interchangeably from multiple viewpoints, draws an immediately present and reflectively informative portrayal of a French police case from the late 2000s where a French-Jewish citizen and brother was kidnapped and held hostage for ransom. While notable for its versatile and atmospheric milieu depictions, distinct cinematography by cinematographer Gilles Henry, production design by production designer Tony Egry and costume design by costume designer Éric Perron, this narrative-driven and dialog-driven story about French police history and anti-Semitism which is inspired by real events which took place in Paris, France in 2006, contains a great and timely score by composer Armand Amar.This authoritatively concentrated retelling which is set in France in the 21st century and where a twenty-three-year-old human being of Moroccan origins who was taken against his will is the communicator, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, rhythmic continuity, comment by Ruth Halimi: "If my son was not Jewish, he would not be…" and the reverent acting performance by French actress, screenwriter and director Zabou Breitman. A testamentary narrative feature.

Even if we set aside the reality of this film, it's a compelling police procedural. In France a 24-year-old man set up by a honeypot, then kidnapped for ransom,. The family would pay what they can but the police don't want to encourage further kidnapping. They prevent any publicity, fearing the kidnappers would kill the man once they know they're involved. The police specialists enforce their strategy. Sometimes the family's women fall out of line because their emotions are stronger, making them more vulnerable. Our best nature is our weakest; the brutes' worst is their strength.The negotiations drag on. The investigation is slowed by concerns for citizens' privacy and by the absence of clues or any witnesses' testimony. The police stop the head man for an identity check but have no reason to detain him. That scene probably provokes the indignation of every cinema audience in Western civilization. But we know the guy's guilt because we saw the movie; the police haven't so don't. A possible arrest is bungled by another police division. That ends negotiations. The man is dumped in the countryside and set afire. He's found near a highway but dies en route to the hospital. He had been brutally tortured for 24 days and not fed for 14. Finally a salesgirl coaxes a woman friend who knew of the operation to turn herself in. The culprits are arrested, convicted and jailed. It's a thrilling suspense story, impeccably performed and produced. It raises the appropriate issues about kidnapping and ransom strategies, the victim family's interest vs the public's, the balance between a vigilant police and an intrusive one. Good film.Then there's the reality. It raises this genre thriller to a cultural document.It's the story of the 1986 abduction, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi by a Parisian Arab gang who targeted Jews because they supposedly have more money. A rabbi admits the community has paid some ransoms in the past, so the stratagem continues.Still, Ilan was targeted because he was Jewish. His abductors' antisemitism is clear in his torture. When the mother initially fears the Muslim abductors will repeat the Daniel Pearl story her husband assures her: "This is not Pakistan." He proves wrong. The police refuse to acknowledge it as a race crime so stick to their normal ransom playbook. Because the victim is a Jew the shopgirl ignores the case. She could have saved his life. The race element could have engaged the entire Paris police force, not just the local division. Even after Ilan has been found and his horrible abuse noted, the chief prosecutor denies race was involved. Buckling under pressure the magistrate finally accepts antisemitism but only as an "aggravating" circumstance. A year later the mother has the body exhumed and moved to Jerusalem. His torturers would soon be released and she didn't want them to find his grave in Paris where they could spit on it.Clearly the French government wants to avoid any suggestion of a cultural war with Muslim radicals. They're also embarrassed by the resurgence of French antisemitism, which seems higher now than at any point since the Nazi occupation. Otherwise how could they vote at the UN Security Council in favour of granting the Palestinians unilateral statehood and compelling the Jews to leave Judea, Sumeria and Jerusalem (all of which were clearly part of the promised Jewish state of Palestine), which would expose Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to short-range Hamas rockets. In France Muslim votes far outweigh the Jewish.This denial of reality is not limited to the French. Ottawa insisted its recent jihadist attacks were just lunatic not terrorist, despite the jihadist rhetoric. North American campuses are rife with antisemitic rhetoric and violence that are excused as political discussion. What US networks are showing the satiric cartoons that the current Paris slaughter is intended to punish? Muslim terrorists are winning by intimidation.When the gang leader is finally arrested in the Ivory Coast and extradited, his last words are "I'll be back and I'll kill you all." The "I'll be back" may be an angry but idle threat for him. But it's true for the antisemitic bloodlust that has returned across Europe and North America and encourages the Palestinians to continue their 90-year-old plan to drive the Jews into the sea.

This movie is about a real drama happened in France few years ago to Jewish mother she lost his son murdered by Muslim gang chief.but the film it self is poor achievement and bad acting.A film what would be a conviction for any religious crime transformed on communitarian propaganda film. In the same time we never heard about a Muslim who was murdered by Jewish gang after the first drama and the killers are still free. However the Jewish mother she lost his son, has refused to check hand and talk with the Muslim mother she lost his husband, as if his surfing is more intense and hard Than the other mother,

Inspired from actual events that occurred in France, back in 2006, and with the very same names, this story tells us the tragic fate of a Young Jewish man who has been abducted, tortured and then killed by a bunch of petty hoods. Garbage punks who also succeeded in jeopardizing the police force in search for them. During nearly three weeks. Not bad for garbage punks. They were all lead by a french and Africa native man, who monitored all the affair from Ivory Coast, his fatherland. This movie is taut, sharp, very well made and also edited in such a way that you are glued to your seat all long the feature. Emotions are amazingly shown. Terrific. All actors are here at their best. A flawless film where Alexandre Arcady gives here also his very best. I only hope that if, instead of a Jewish man, it would have been an Aran - Muslim - who had been the victim, and perpetrated by extremists zionists, I hope that would have been shown with the same strenght. In a so powerful way. I just hope...