The Accidental Hero
by Laurent Jaoui
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alexandre Hamidi, Anne Coesens, Cécile Vernant, Karim Belkhadra, Teddy BeaudoinDirector: Laurent Jaoui
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-12-14
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Picture This
Movie Reviews of The Accidental Hero
Movie Review: A Powerful Distillation of the Conflicts of Coming of Age
Summary: 5 Stars
Laurent Jaoui has succeeded in creating a gripping film that deals with single motherhood, juvenile delinquency, trauma sequelae, and foster homes in THE ACCIDENTAL HERO. Rarely has such an unlikely story been so well realized on film.
Valerie Maillard (Anne Coesens) is a young flight attendant mother of 16-year-old Tom (Alexandre Hamidi), a lad who is angry with the world, believes his mother deserted his airline pilot father whom he has never met, who has endless run-ins with the police, always being released to his frustrated and hostile mother with whom he grows ever more resentful. Valerie is an absentee mother because of her career and Tom feels very much alone in the world. After his latest arrest he has a bitter argument with Valerie, then insists on accompanying her to the airport when she has a last minute call to substitute for another flight attendant. (Tom always places a model airplane on the mailbox in front of their home as charm for Valerie's travel safety). During the car trip to the airport and in the heat of an argument, their car is forced off the road in a major accident injuring both Tom and Valerie.
Tom wakes up in a hospital, discovers his mother survived, but is in a coma. Tom is placed in a group foster home populated with delinquents but managed by a strict man Malik (Karim Belkhadra) who holds all of the power of a disciplining father that Tom has been missing. His only escape is school and a job at which he works nights to make money to give to his mother for past fines. The bulk of his time is spent at the hospital where he watches over his mother.
When Valerie eventually awakens, she has near total amnesia, does not recognize Tom, and Tom sets out to help her regain her memory. In doing so he contacts his mother's parents for help only to discover that they want nothing to do with Valerie, the daughter who got pregnant with Tom at a young age from an abusive man who treated her so cruelly that Valerie was forced to escape. The 'hero father image' is destroyed for Tom and he sees Valerie in a totally different light: perhaps his mother has been 'absentee' but she has never deserted him the way his grandparents disowned Valerie.
Gradually circumstances improve and Valerie's memory is retrieved and the film ends in a stunning conclusion that speaks volumes about family, about love, and about maternal/filial devotion.
The cast is excellent and the performance by first time actor Hamidi is especially remarkable. This is a fine French film that deserves a wide audience. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp, April 05
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