15/02/2006

Dieter Kosslick had announced that the 56th Berlinale would have a serious tone, foregoing fantasy to focus on the world's greatest problems, without, however, overlooking private dramas. In the same day that the UK’s Michael Winterbottom presented his political docu-drama The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see review), the Forum sidebar section delved into the universe of one family's grief with French documentary Beyond Hatred [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Directed by Olivier Meyrou, the film shows a family’s desire to transform hatred into something constructive after 29 year-old François Chenu was beaten to death by three skinheads for being homosexual.

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Rather than becoming a film on homosexuality, the personal interviews in Beyond Hatred feel as if they are part of a therapeutic process to overcoming pain in this unusually cathartic portrait. Meyrou's uses long sequences and close-ups to take us to the limits of the bearable. Some of the scenes are so soul-baring they could almost be deemed a violation of privacy, if not for the fact that the family members gave the director their approval to film them. Faithful to their own values and views, François' family fights to avoid a spiral of violence, even when they come face to face with the three murderers, carefully (and amazingly) kept out of Meyrou's shots. Beyond the family sphere, the filmmaker also interviewed the attorneys, one of them, of Arab origin, who was particularly involved in reintegrating one of the accused skinheads into society.

Beyond Hatred was produced by Hold Up Films and Miss Luna Films, and co-produced by France 5 and France 2 Cinéma. Films Distribution is handles international sales.