[attrition] review: Movie: Banlieue 13

[lyger]

Banlieue 13
2004
Czarina

Set in Paris in the year 2010, the violence and disorder in the ghettos 
have spiraled out of control. Unable to control the inhabitants who are 
mostly immigrants and their French-born offspring, the French government 
erects walls to contain the savagery and chaos. The residents of B13, both 
honest citizens and dastardly criminals have been deemed undesirable and 
are cut off from Paris and the outside world by a State that professes 
Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. The police have begun to pull out of 
the hopeless terrordome infested with drugs and guns, with the secret hope 
that the lowlifes will kill each other off -- thus, problem solved.

District 13 resident and anti-crime crusader Leito (Parkour co-founder 
David Belle), has taken it upon himself to fight the drugs and corruption 
in his neighborhood, bit by bit. He steals drugs from the poison purveyors 
and destroys them so that users don't get high and pushers don't get rich. 
This raises the ire of local crime boss (and serious coke fiend) Taha 
(Bibi Naceri), whom Leito wants to take down. During an attempt to topple 
Taha and bring him to justice, Leito is imprisoned and his sister Lola 
(Dany Verissimo) is taken by the drug lord and his henchmen, headed by K2 
(the late Tony D'Amario). Now in prison, Leito is no longer a threat to 
Taha or the mob rule of B13, but there is a new menace that threatens the 
barrio -- a clean bomb that is set to explode in less than 24 hours and 
will wipe out the entire slum.

[...]