District 13

District 13
French-language poster
Directed by	Pierre Morel
Produced by	Luc Besson Bernard Grenet
Written by	Luc Besson Bibi Naceri
Starring	David Belle Cyril Raffaelli Dany Verissimo Bibi Naceri Tony D'Amario
Distributed by	EuropaCorp (France) Magnolia Pictures (U.S.)
Release date(s)	France November 10, 2004 Canada, United States June 2, 2006 United Kingdom July 7, 2006
Running time	86 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	€12 Million (estimated)[1]
Box office	$9,391,937

District 13 (French: Banlieue 13) is a 2004 French action film directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced by Luc Besson.^[2] It has also been released as District B13 and Barrio 13 (Australia DVD release)^[3] It has also been known as B13 on French posters used to advertise the film.

The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of stunt sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects. Because of this, some critics have drawn comparisons to the popular Thai film [made by Luc Besson also]Ong-Bak.^[4][5][6]

David Belle, a founder of parkour, appears in the film as one of its protagonists, Leïto.

Plot

In 2010 social problems such as violence, drugs and organized crime have overrun the poorer suburbs of Paris and especially a Banlieue commonly referred to as B13 (Banlieue 13 – which translates to District 13 or Borough 13 in English) a ghetto with a population of some two million. Unable to control B13 the authorities construct a high wall topped by barbed wire around the entire area forcing the inhabitants within to survive without education, proper utilities or police protection behind the containment wall. Police checkpoints stop anybody going in or out.

Three years later an almost feudal system has developed amongst the street gangs of B13. The area is now flooded with hard drugs such as heroin and completely controlled by gangsters. Certain blocks are ruled over by various individuals and one high rise apartment block is looked after by an athletic and street-wise man known as Leïto (David Belle). Leïto hates drugs and injustice and wages a one-man war against a neighboring gang lord named Taha Bemamud (Bibi Naceri) to keep his own building and people safe and free of drugs. Leïto captures 20 kg of heroin from Taha, worth over a million euro, which incites Taha to send his thugs to recover the merchandise, led by the towering K2 (Tony D'Amario). Leïto destroys the cocaine^{[inconsistent]} by using bleach and uses parkour to evade Taha's thugs through the building and across rooftops.

Taha kidnaps Leïto's younger sister Lola (Dany Verissimo) to use against him, but Leïto manages to invade Taha's base, rescue his sister, and kidnap Taha in turn. Leïto takes Taha to the police office at the edge of the district perimeter, but the police are in the process of abandoning their position on orders from the French Ministry, and are also threefold outnumbered by Taha's gang. The police release Taha and allow him to take Lola with him to avoid a confrontation. In addition, they put Leïto in a cell also to contain the situation, but Leïto kills the police chief in the process for handing over Lola.

Six months later, outside of B13 in the affluent areas of Paris, an undercover police captain named Damien Tomaso (Cyril Raffaelli) infiltrates an underground casino and attempts to arrest the gangster who owns it. His extraction procedure fails, however, forcing him to fight his way through an army of thugs to escape the casino. Upon the mission's completion, Damien immediately receives another assignment from his chief and also the Defence Secretary of France, Mr Krüger. He is told that Taha has stolen an experimental neutron bomb that is set to detonate in 24 hours. His mission is to convince Leïto, imprisoned for months, to lead him to Taha's base so that he can disarm the bomb.

Damien attempts to pass himself off as a fellow prisoner and helps Leïto escape to B13, but Leïto sees through Damien's act and abandons him. After fighting off some of the local thugs, Damien locates Leïto and admits the truth. They team up to disarm the bomb and rescue Lola. The pair surrenders to Taha in order to gain access to his base. There, they discover that Taha has rigged the warhead to a missile launcher, pointed towards the center of Paris and is prepared to blackmail the government with it. Taha demands a high ransom, which is refused by Damien's government contact. The pair escape, and while Taha's thugs pursue them, he discovers that the government has emptied all of his offshore accounts in the Bahamas and elsewhere. One of Taha's men asks how Taha will pay them. Frustrated Taha tries to shoot the member who asked him that only noticing his gun to be unloaded. Taha offers money from a safe he possesses. Knowing that with Tahas accounts emptied and unable to have any reason to work for him the thugs shoot Taha. This leaves K2, a more sympathetic character, in charge and K2 has a moment of reconciliation with Leïto, suggesting that peace is possible in the future within B13.

Leïto and Damien fight their way to the tower building holding Lola and the bomb. They are confronted by their final obstacle: Yeti, a substantial henchman left by Taha to block their access to the bomb. Having defeated Yeti, Damien calls his contact to receive the deactivation code, 9293709B13. Leïto recognizes the code as a reference to the bomb's location (92 and 93 are the two area codes of the departements that make up District 13), the day's date (7 September), and the district, B13. Leïto deduces that the government has set them up and the code will actually detonate the bomb instead of deactivating it. He fights Damien to prevent him from entering the code. The timer runs out and the bomb does not detonate, proving Leïto's theory.

The pair return to the government building with the bomb and force Mr Krüger to admit that he had planned to blow up B13 as a means to get rid of it. The confession has been filmed and is immediately broadcast by pirate television transmission across all channels. The pair's actions cause a major scandal that sparks public support for B13. Soon the rest of the government promises to tear down the containment wall and bring back schools and police to B13. Leïto and Damien depart as friends, and Lola kisses Damien to encourage him to visit B13 in the future.

Cast

• Cyril Raffaelli ... Capt. Damien Tomaso
• David Belle ... Leïto
• Tony D'Amario ... K2
• Dany Verissimo ... Lola
• Bibi Naceri (as Larbi Naceri) ... Taha Bemamud
• François Chattot ... Krüger
• Nicolas Woirion ... Corsini
• Patrick Olivier ... Le colonel
• Samir Guesmi ... Jamel
• Jeff Rudom (as Jeffrey Zade Rudom) ... Yeti

Reception

District 13 received mostly positive reviews and holds a rating of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 108 reviews.^[7]

Sequel

Filming of a sequel, originally titled "Banlieue 14", began in August 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia,^[8] and continued until October 2008.^[9] David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli both reprised their original roles of Leito and Damien, respectively.^[10] The film was directed by Patrick Alessandrin with Luc Besson again producing and writing the screenplay. The title for the sequel was officially changed to District 13: Ultimatum in the post-production stages.^[11] It was released in France on February 18, 2009, and the United Kingdom on October 2, 2009.

Remake

A remake of the film, Brick Mansions, began pre-production in 2010 by EuropaCorp.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Hernandez, Eugene (November 21, 2005). "Magnolia's Plans Spring '06 Release for French Parkour Action Title, "District 13"". Biz. indieWIRE. Archived from the original on March 20, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060320171327/http://www.indiewire.com/biz/2005/11/magnlias_plans.html. Retrieved March 14, 2006. 
3. ^ District B13
4. ^ Orndorf, Brian (May 26, 2006). "FilmJerk.com - Reviews - District 13, "District 13"". FilmJerk. http://www.filmjerk.com/reviews/article.php?id_rev=841. Retrieved April 7, 2007. 
5. ^ Faraci, Devin (June 2, 2006). "Chud.com - Reviews - District 13, "District 13"". Chud.com. http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/6824/1/REVIEW-DISTRICT-B-13/Page1.html. Retrieved July 13, 2008. 
6. ^ McAllister, Matt (December 8, 2005). "Futuremovies.co.uk - Reviews - District 13, "District 13"". Futuremovies.co.uk. http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/review.asp?ID=431. Retrieved July 13, 2008. 
7. ^ "District B13 (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/district_b13/. Retrieved 2010-03-22. 
8. ^ Radojkovic, Marija (July 22, 2008). "Luc Besson shoots his new film in Belgrade". Blic Online. http://www.blic.co.rs/culture.php?id=2564. Retrieved September 5, 2008. 
9. ^ Belle, Jean-François. "CASTING Banlieue 13 'la suite'" (in French). Official Parkour Blog. http://www.sportmediaconcept.com/parkour/CASTING-Banlieue-13-la-suite-_a92.html. Retrieved September 5, 2008. "Attention le tournage est prévu entre juillet et octobre 2008" 
10. ^ Banlieue 13:Ultimatum at the Internet Movie Database
11. ^ "DISTRICT B13 sequel renamed BANLIEUE 13 - ULTIMATUM". http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2008/10/29/DISTRICT-B13-sequel-renamed-BANLIEUE-13--ULTIMATUM. 
12. ^ allocine (French)
13. ^ Quiet Earth
14. ^ worstpreviews
15. ^ comingsoon
16. ^ wegotthiscovered
17. ^ Variety

External links

• District 13 at the Internet Movie Database
• District 13 at AllRovi
• District 13 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Interview with director Pierre Morel at SFFWorld.com