Conscience as freedom When the Dardenne Brothers or Ken Loach’s new film comes out, I am overwhelmed by anxiety about the fate of humanism in modern cinema: is this their last? And judging by the Cannes nominees of recent years, there is absolutely no one to put next to such masters. “Unknown”, like other works of the brothers, attracts and draws the viewer with the simplicity of presentation, sometimes identified by critics with realism. Simplicity is associated with dialogues, in which there are no unnecessary words, everyday details, exactly laid out on shelves, the focus of the camera on the actions of the characters. In the case of “Unknown” simplicity adds the image of the main character – a talented young doctor Jenny, who has a practice in one of the small offices, where she just began to work instead of the departed elderly doctor. Her actions are accurate, emotions are stingy, order and purity reign in the office. The standard doctor, who is already waiting for a more profitable place.
Do not approach the intercom after a working day - there is nothing to indulge the sick, Jenny teaches a young intern. But it was worth not answering one such call - and the next day the police reported that the call was a black girl, found soon dead by the river. Jenny feels guilty. She didn't have to open the door after work was done. The non-compulsory act is replaced by an optional interest in the identity of the deceased, an investigation, an optional refusal of a prestigious job, unnecessary unpleasant meetings with those who do not want to remember anything about an African prostitute, already buried under some number, and not under a name plate, as Jenny wants. After one such meeting, when you were pushed into a hole at a construction site, you will not want to find out anything. But conscience dictates otherwise: “...It demands it. That girl."
The plot of “Unknown” develops according to the scheme already used in “Silence of Lorna”. When you suddenly discover a person in a drug addict or a dead prostitute, you become, if you will, his angel: only you have recognized him as your own, and without your efforts this person will disappear forever. Such efforts shake the established order: Lorna tears the net of her life sold for months ahead, breaking out at a high cost for dangerous freedom, Jenny breaks the nets of silence of others. In this comparison, it is curious that Jenny has no fetters in the personal sphere: according to the Dardenne brothers, after the premiere of the film, they cut out almost seven minutes of her personal life. She's just a doctor who's not supposed to be afraid when she's threatened, grabbed, pushed and abused. Confined Lorna is silent about her Claudie, free Jenny gently persuades: “Imagine that your mother was found dead.” For others, it becomes a walking conscience: "Don't look at me!" Turn away! she hears from the one who dared to reveal himself.
Conscience does not bind guilt, it releases, the Dardenne brothers argue. Liberates from fear, from fear of change in his musty life, releases not in the name of freedom, but for the good of his neighbor.
9 out of 10
Original