Building 5: too Manichean to convince (criticism)

Ladj Ly signs a new fresco on the suburbs. But this second ultra-didactic film never finds the energy and power of Les Misérables.

A few men slowly lower a heavy coffin through the endless staircase of a suburban tower block (the elevator is broken). With this introductory sequence as impressive as it is accusatory, Ladj Ly says the project of his new feature film. The communities, the unsanitary conditions of the buildings, the social poverty in the suburbs… this is all that the film tells about as it follows Haby, a young activist for the right to housing.

We also meet Pierre, an idealistic doctor (played by Alexis Manenti), appointed to replace the town’s mayor who died suddenly. While Pierre continues his predecessor’s redevelopment plans, Haby and other neighborhood residents try to resist evictions. But the tension rises a notch when a clandestine restaurant catches fire in one of the towers.

After Wretched, Building 5. And after the police, the public authorities (town hall) and housing policy. The filmmaker therefore explores suburban life from another prism. He would like to do his The Wire French that he would not do it any other way: even wanting to denounce institutional racism, the failures of public policies and social inequalities.

Unfortunately, Ladj Ly falls into all the traps that he was partly able to avoid in his first film. Didactic (the role of Haby), artificial in the sequence of situations and caricature in the acting and in the characterization of the characters (notably that of Manenti), Building 5 is no longer driven by anything other than good feelings, agit-prop and the desire to settle scores. This is legitimate, but all this makes fiction Manichean and ineffective.

Of Ladj Ly. With Anta Diaw, Alexis Manenti, Aristotle Luyindula… Duration 1h40. Released December 6, 2023