WilliamCKH I'm not a huge fan of most police dramas because most of them are not realistically painted on the screen. There is a forced machoism about them that usually leaves me cold. This film "Le petit lieutenant" was an exception. The title character, a passionate young cop, just out of school, really seems to care about his work, the day to day routine of it. He seems to like his fellow colleagues, treats the criminals fairly humanely and doesn't mind that his boss is a middle-aged woman. There is no sexism, chauvinism, machoism, in his or his colleagues attitudes when doing their jobs. And there does seem to be a poetic sensibility in him that helps him cope with the horrors and/or tedium of the work. Everything about this movie, the pacing, the dialogue, the plot is very realistically presented and resonates deeply within you once the credits begin to roll. It is a very human story which treats all its characters with a great deal of compassion.

emeiserloh Le Petit Lieutenant makes Eastern Promises look like the mediocre knock off it is. "Eastern..." has nothing substantial to offer beyond a couple of signature scenes and is ultimately forgettable after the echo of its posturing and violence subside (can't really understand why the critics adore Cronenberg so much), and it is no more evident than when I compare his film to another that works so much better, like Le Petit Lieutenant (an 8 1/2 out of 10) Both are dramas that operate fully within the "crime genre," but whereas there is very little that is original or compelling beyond the dramatic pretense of Eastern Promises, the French film is rich with characterizations and direction that lend depth to its realistic story. Whereas "Eastern..." creates slick, hip Hollywood scenes that tease and gratify our primal senses without really engaging any of its real dilemmas, "Petit..." draws us in (via a casual documentary like style) to the life of a young detective just out of cadet school who is becoming familiar with his co-workers and line of work on the streets of Paris. It is through him and his interactions with everything around him that we begin to experience something more dramatic, almost without realizing it, until the tragedy of common (rather than postured) occurrence invades our psyche, and plays out amidst a suspense created by the tension of anxiety, anguish, and inner strength of his chief inspector (a woman), portrayed with great humanity by Nathalie Baye. Like all Hollywood movies, Eastern Promises offers the semblance of real drama at the beginning, only to abandon its stories and characters as it lapses into the improbability and titillation we have all grown accustomed to at the cinema. The french film, on the other hand, demonstrates its concern for the people it has given life to by engaging our own humanity rather than our anticipation of the next thrill that lies around the corner....your cinewest correspondent

writers_reign This may be one of the most realistic Police Procedurals ever made. It's low-key to the point of virtually creating an H-minor. No prizes for guessing that Nathalie Baye is outstanding as a Commandant returning to duty after detox - she lost a son and found the sauce, not very original but very human - on the same day Jalil Lespert joins her squad. Fresh out of Training College Lespert badly misses his wife who has remained in their native Le Havre and is reluctant to join him in Paris. Two wounded birds cope as best they can in the day-to-day environment of a homicide squad which is woefully short on glamour/drama but high on realistic routine. A minor murder is investigated thoroughly but with little result i.e. very realistically. Don't look for happy endings tied up in pink ribbons but do look for top-drawer acting.

rkrcmar I saw the movie being a French police officer. Usually I don't like movies about French police for they are mostly very unrealistic.There however we have a story about what could be a regular case in one of the most important Crime Units in the city of Paris. With regular police work done by regular police detectives. The actors are playing in a such realistic manner that they just could be real cops caught in their everyday work.The movie is sad, very sad and hard. I don't think you would apply to become a police officer after seeing it ...