Vandal

Director Hélier Cisterne's Vandal illuminates French working-class banlieue culture in an age in which these suburban no-go zones are either ignored or maligned by mainstream media. Here, the focus is on lost soul teen youths in Strasbourg whose outlet for self-expression is graffiti art: the film's adolescent protagonist, Chérif (Zinedine Benchenine), a sometimes disillusioned construction apprentice, finds himself caught up in a gang of young “taggers” whose secretive nocturnal activities involve marking up the nearest blank concrete canvas with spray paint. Soon the gang find themselves competing with an unnaturally prolific lone tagger known as “Vandal.” Envious of Vandal's feats of artistic derring-do, Chérif's paint-bomber posse obsessively follows Vandal's trail of awe-inspiring graffiti, defacing it with their own crude markings. But trouble erupts when Chérif is caught with his girlfriend in the gang's hideout, severely damaging his reputation within the group. Chérif's attempt to win back the trust of his tagger pals will lead to his participation in a potentially life-ruining misadventure to thwart Vandal. Although it takes a bold look at the young French underclass, it's hard to empathize with Chérif: unlike many underprivileged ghettoized youngsters, he has caring parents and legit job opportunities, but seems too weak to accept work and responsibility and instead engineers his own nihilistic self-destruction. A strong optional purchase. (M. Sandlin)