By Abdourahman Waberi
Released only a week ago, ‘Intouchables’ the film (by Eric Toledano & Olivier Nakache, France, length: 1h52min) is having the most amazing success in France since Harry Potter hit. Supported by a duo of fantastic actors: François Cluzet playing Philippe (a while billionnaire paralyzed in a wheelchair) and Omar Sy as Driss (his young out-of-the banlieue black help).  Here‘s a link to the trailer (in French). More than 2.5 millions viewers have already hailed that sweet and sour comedy. Omar Sy (with his stand up comedy partner Fred) has was discovered by the Canal Plus cable channel, just like the actor and humorist Jamel Debbouze. Omar Sy, Jamel Debbouze, rapper La Fouine and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka all have one thing in common: they were born and raised at Trappes, a poor city not far from Versailles. Big Omar (he’s 6.3 feet and even richer in talent and funnier ) is rumoured to get a César Award for Best Actor in February 2012. And France will surely boast of at least one Black movie icon.

Photo Credit: Prakash Topsy.

Further Reading

And do not hinder them

We hardly think of children as agents of change. At the height of 1980s apartheid repression in South Africa, a group of activists did and gave them the tool of print.

The new antisemitism?

Stripped of its veneer of nuance, Noah Feldman’s essay in ‘Time’ is another attempt to silence opponents of the Israeli state by smearing them as anti-Jewish racists.