Review of Three Dancing Slaves (2004) by Ian M — 14 Feb 2006

Three Dancing Slaves (2005) - "Would you like me to shave your butt?" - Hicham.

I don't know how this film got the USA title of "3 Dancing Slaves." Its European title works around the English phrase "The Clan," which is more appropriate to this story of three brothers whose Mom passed away when they were still growing up. One of the brothers, Olivier does practice a form of aerobic dance with his friend Hicham, but no one else will have anything to do with it. And no one is a slave, at least not in the conventional sense.

Set in a small mountain community in France, the film takes turns isolating on the three brothers (three chapters) and how they are perceived by each other. There's little to do in town, and less to do for work, so their existence is defined in their skill at hanging out and their commitment to each other, a necessary consequence of losing a parent that they all clearly worshipped. There's trouble with the father, but that's hardly news for brother's of their age: One of the brothers just got out of prison and will do what it takes to be a model citizen (rags on the father for how he's running the family), another is locked in a battle with an enemy in town that he can't seem to bring himself to finish (drives his father nuts by wasting his days), and the third, the youngest, grieves for the other two (and for the father as well).

A bit bizarre, I was assured that my feelings are a cultural thing, that the film is reasonably accurate. I read an article in USA Today where the author of the article tried to draw a comparison between relationships and personal choice. If there are little in the way of personal choices, you are a lot more tolerant of your relationships and more willing to open up to maintain those relationships: the brothers and their friends were close. They were all angry about the way things were, but close in their shared misery. That's how I viewed this film: choice vs. relationships. Only in 3 Slaves, it's when choice appears our of nothingness that things get interesting. That's when they had to decide which was more important. Whether they went for the opportunity or not, the brothers all ended up a little crazy from it.

Technically, not the greatest production, but a cool story that keeps growing on me.