mmunier From my new country Australia but where I have spent nearly two third of my life, I really enjoyed this little trip back in France! Although the topic is not that of a holiday since it's about people looking for a better world and so becoming illegal immigrants. But the story concentrates more on one of them.... It's a charming story where people seem to be themselves, regardless of the circumstances, to remain "human beings" above all. It's sweet at time funny. I'm fond of J P Daroussin but did not know the other actors. So in one way it was refreshing but also rewarding to see someone whose acting I enjoy. I have never been to Le Havre so it was not really a trip down memory lane. And I was a little surprised to feel that the period did not seem to match with the year I expected it to be. I researched a little for my own satisfaction and read a very well written review from the New York Times ..."The film itself seems to belong to another era" It certainly did for me I kept struggling to feel whether I was in the 1930 or 40 years latter. It was a gentle ride and I enjoyed it very much.

anordall Poor acting, poor story, poor editing. The good guys and, on the other side, the bad guys. A lot of clichés. Take all these ingredients, season with the poorest social vision of the immigrants problem, and you have a movie! Is it possible that the only thing that good-willing people can do is helping a Negro boy arrive in England? Happiness is leaving your country and getting to France and than to England, to become a foreigner? One sees this movie, and the remaining impression is that Europe is dead, Europeans have lost all their sensibility and only can think, presently, in terms of stereotypes and commonplaces. Extremely individualistic, this movie is a faithful portrait of the way people reason under capitalism - one is as important as one million.

paperbackboy This splendid film simply blew away my initial concerns about it being a simplistic take on immigration and authority. The timeless and beautifully fluid settings (which make the action feel like it's taking place variously in wartime, the 1950s and the present day) combine with terse, slightly stylized performances and a pared-to-the-bone script to give this ostensibly simple, lightweight story a broader significance that exceeds all expectations.The movie yields fresh depths and delights at every turn: the decor and colour palette (that make all of the sets, including a hospital, a café, a local street scene and the Le Havre quayside, look achingly beautiful); the lingering shots framing everyday objects and scenes; the nosey neighbours that effortlessly recall wartime collaborators; the conflicted cop; the rather gratuitous rock song; the beauty of older people and their love for each other; the relationships between young and old... the list goes on and on. Not to mention the oblique way that wider themes such as alienation, family, religion, charity, hope, love, belonging and nationality are also addressed. And it all seems so effortless. Just wow. I nearly gave it a nine, and I've literally never given a film a 9. I'm off to find more films by this director.

Tad Pole I've been to Finland. It's cold. There's not much to do there. Nothing much happens, unless a reindeer runs over grandma. So it is quite understandable that when writer\director Aki Kaurismaki decided to make an awards-worthy movie, and weighed his two options (Nazi zombies popping out of the deep snow, or filming somewhere else), he chose the second alternative. With a story centering on an illegal alien caught in a strange land on his way to London, changing countries was a requirement (no one ever has reached Finland by accident; a person needs good directions and lots of money to get there). When the main character of LE HAVRE, Marcel Marx, first meets young alien Idrissa from Africa, Idrissa is standing in waist deep water in the harbor. If this scene were taking place in Finland, Idrissa would not be standing up, as the water temperature would freeze him solid in 8 seconds or so. One of Idrissa's most dramatic escapes comes as he's hidden inside a street vendor's vegetable cart. It would take a team of 40 dogs to pull a cart that size in Finland, and the only produce you'd be able to sell is icicles. Though Finland is tiny compared to France, it has not surrendered to Germany as many times, and Kati Outinen as Marcel's wife Arletty and Laika as his dog Laika more than hold their own with the French cast members.