The Dardenne Brothers Discuss Their Polarizing Film 'Young Ahmed' [Interview]

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne might just be the most influential European filmmakers of the last 20 years, with their social-realist handheld camera style becoming a sort of Euro-arthouse cliché at this point. And if you believe their last effort, 2016’s “The Unknown Girl,” felt a little off, then you’d probably be happy to know that this year’s “Young Ahmed” is another unique film in the brothers’ cinematic oeuvre, tackling a controversial character who feels incredibly relevant with today’s political reality.

READ MORE: ‘Young Ahmed’: Jean-Pierre And Luc Dardenne Deliver A Gripping Look At Religious Fundamentalism [Cannes Review]

In “Young Ahmed,” the Dardennes deliver the story of a young Arabic boy who gets indoctrinated by a local Imam’s teachings and tries to commit a heinous act. It’s a film filled with tense moments that very much feels organic and attuned to the rest of their filmography. “Young Ahmed” will no doubt cause a stir, and it already has if you’ve read some of the reviews that were published after its Cannes premiere. But don’t be swayed by some of the more politically-charged reviews. This is top-notch work from some of the best filmmakers working today, filled with their usual birds-eye-view camerawork, solid acting from non-professionals, and a searing screenplay, which builds up the tension with every scene.

Recently, we were able to talk to the Dardennes about “Young Ahmed,” and in our interview, the filmmakers discussed the origins of their controversial project, the research that went into the creation of the film, and much more.

What inspired the creation of ‘Young Ahmed?’
Luc Dardenne: We were deeply marked by the terrorist attacks which, among others, brought great bloodshed to France and Belgium. Then again, we never really sought to depict any sort of terrorist attack in this film, which we don’t. It was never a question for us to show the blood, but rather to get to the core of what might radicalize someone to do such a heinous thing. The attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan were very much in our minds whilst making this film.

The film follows a very young would-be radical, which makes it even more disturbing to watch because, in essence, it’s a sort of poisoning of innocence.
Luc Dardenne: That’s right. We kept going back and forth whilst coming up with the core of the screenplay and we were wondering if we had a main character who was 18 or older, would he really be able to get out of the fanaticism that has poisoned his mind? We realized that with someone as young as Ahmed, who is 13-years-old in the film, there is still a chance at redemption and altering the indoctrination.

There’s also the kind of brilliant ambiguity as to why Ahmed has decided to go the radical route. It drives the suspense, trying to read this character’s intentions and motives.
Luc Dardenne: A film that inspired us was Philippe Faucon’sThe Disintegration.” 

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Yeah, that whole notion that religion and identity can ultimately bring purity. It’s obviously not that simple, but many fall for it. For Ahmed, indoctrinated by his Imam, death is almost unimportant in the grander scheme of things. You can even see it in the film, Ahmed is so concerned with staying pure, he wants no contamination in the eyes of God. It turns into this very dangerous balancing act of what he can and cannot do in the eyes of, not really the Koran, but more his Imam.

There must obviously be heavy research involved with a topic such as this.
Jean-Pierre Dardenne: Too many consultants to name. We interviewed police, Imams, professors, judges, journalists. It wasn’t even just about tackling the realist plight of a radical, it was also about showing every prayer, every argument being propositioned on-screen with as realistic a light as possible. It wasn’t just about Ahmed, but also the people around him and how their actions to save this boy didn’t feel contrived or out-of-touch with what would actually happen in real life.

Luc Dardenne: Writing the screenplay took us about a year-and-a-half, which is six months longer than we usually take. Jean-Pierre basically explained why, it took meticulous thinking, almost, in some cases, overthinking, to set the screenplay in motion.

Ahmed’s eventual de-radicalization is anything but obvious. That’s part of why I found this film so horrific. It not only tackles a dark subject matter, but it does so in an exceptionally subtle, almost creeping-under-your-skin kind of way
Jean-Pierre Dardenne: In many of our films, our characters generally escape their dilemmas or dramatic circumstances by meeting a person that changes their outlook on life. In “Young Ahmed,” the indoctrination is so deep and terrifying that such a thing just could not happen. It was out of the question to add in scriptwriting deceptions to save Ahmed.

Luc Dardenne: To humanize an evil character is a high-wire act, but we took it a step further and actually decided to build an entire film around an inherently “evil” character. You have to show some kind of humanity or else people will just not be able to relate. 

How did the casting process work for this one work, as you feature many unknown actors?
Luc Dardenne: Oh, hundreds upon hundreds of teenagers auditioned for the role of Ahmed. We actually had professional actors in this one, but not very well-known ones, the non-professionals actors are always there in our films, mostly for the purpose of not having the movie watcher be sucked out of the film due to a famous suddenly appearing on-screen. 

Reactions to this film have been some of the most polarizing of your entire careers.
Luc Dardenne: The film speaks for itself. Well, that’s the thing, as a director and screenwriter, I wanted to provoke debates about religion, radicalism, and identity ideologies, but not in any sort of tasteless manner. We obviously knew that some people were going to get angry about this movie, just based on the topic alone.

Jean-Pierre Dardenne: We have been accused of “cultural appropriation” in France, which is probably the accusation that has irked me the most. The gist of it was that we are white men and that such a story should be told by a Muslim director. We know we’re white, but art, one of its utopias, permits someone to get into another person’s head. It’s part of the joys of making art. Sure, there might be a difference if this movie was told by a Muslim director, but we should be allowed to tell stories about other cultures. Even if we are white, we should still be allowed to tackle stories about other cultures and religions or, another example, if we are heterosexual we should be allowed to tackle stories about gay people. The whole notion of today’s “identity politics” has gone off-the-rails and turned into this very flawed theory.

“Young Ahmed” is in select theaters now.