Seen on DVD: The Son has faith in man's goodness

In a Dardenne brothers film, man is a working animal. He needs work to subsist, to mold his essence and to define his existence. That he works, that is what makes him what he is. However Marxist this framework essentially is, a Dardenne brothers film also functions on the precepts of Christianity, the very school of thought that Marxism opposes, for its capacity to put the masses into blind faith and obedience, thereby functioning as their "opium" and making them incapable of thinking and standing up for themselves. With this, a Dardenne brothers film is a dialectic in itself: In as much as it is subtly subversive with its progressive Marxist philosophy, it ironically also has faith in the basic Christian tenets of charity and goodwill. The characters in their film do not explicitly go to church or mention the name of God or aren't those who we can brand as religious or spiritual, yet there's something in their actions that are governed by the exactingly-mounted Christian notions of hope, faith and charity. 

In their 2002 film "The Son," we get to know Olivier (played by the siblings' muse Olivier Gourmet, who won a Cannes best actor award for the film), a carpenter who oversees a carpentry workshop, where he teaches young boys to learn the craft. At the film's start, we see him going over a paper handed to him by a social worker, which contains some necessary information about a new apprentice. After some deep thinking, he tells the social worker that he can't accept the boy for he already has a lot to handle in the workshop. The boy is then assigned to a different section of the shop (welding). Yet, we later on notice that he seems to be intently observing the boy, secretly taking a peek at him from some corner in the shop. From the looks in Olivier's eyes, it's as if he is probing deep into the boy's soul. Later still, he changes his mind and decides to take the boy in his workshop. The carpenter continues to have those probing and intent looks at the young man. Whatever it is that could be between Olivier and the boy remains largely unspoken of thus far. 

It is during Olivier's conversation with his estranged wife, where the boy's name, Francis, is mentioned for the first time, that we learn that the latter has something to do with a painful episode in the couple's past: that Francis was responsible for the death of their son (probably the same age as his), during a theft committed by the boy. The blond-haired and sullen-eyed boy (played by an impressive Morgan Marinne) has just been released after serving some time in a reformatory center and as part of starting anew, he's now taking an apprenticeship in the carpentry workshop. Olivier's wife is naturally alarmed and confused. And so are we: Why on earth would Olivier take Francis (who's not aware that the former is the father of his victim) under his tutelage, knowing fully well his terrible deed? At this point, "The Son" becomes a kind of mystery/suspense-drama, as we wonder what could be running on Olivier's mind when he decided to have Francis in his workshop after the initial reluctance. He always has these probing (and prying) eyes on the teener in whatever he does and wherever he goes. Is he up to something? 

We are worried that Olivier would just pounce on Francis anytime. Thankfully, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are less concerned with the potential physical confrontation between the two than with the complex moral quandary that arises from the outwardly-benign-but-simmeringly-hostile character of their relationship. Without relying too much on the spoken word, we observe how Olivier, through his behavior and actions, struggles between carrying out whatever possible sinister intentions he has against Francis as an act of vengeance and acting as an unlikely surrogate father to the boy, who's practically unwanted by his own parents (according to him, his mother's current lover doesn't want him seeing her and, on the other hand, he doesn't know where his father is; there's even an instance where he asks Olivier to be his guardian). However challenging and uncomfortable it may sound, there's a mutual opportunity lending itself open here for the two men: for Olivier, to become a father that he once was; for Francis, to become a son that he had never been. 

This is something that looks easy on paper. But given the circumstances that have made the fates of Olivier and Francis intertwine, it's almost unimaginable. And this is what makes a Dardenne brothers film incredibly powerful. From a seemingly simple and austere plot, a complex and deep moral issue is actually being put at the forefront. In "The Son"'s case, it's demonstrated how the acts of kindness, charity and forgiveness can have a far-reaching effect in our lives. And this is done without the need for histrionics and melodrama, but rather in the subtlest way and with the rawest emotions possible. In the Dardenne brothers' universe, an act as simple as a quiet gaze, a candid asking of question, eating a fast food together, and playing foosball against each other can convey a whole lot of meaning. Most importantly, the acclaimed filmmakers prove that they have faith in the basic kindness of humanity. 

While some European arthouse auteurs like Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier unflinchingly and consistently emphasize human beings' cruelty against each other in their works, the Dardennes still believe that goodness is innate in us. In all of their films - "The Promise," "Rosetta," "The Child," "Lorna's Silence," "The Kid with a Bike," "Two Days, One Night" - no matter how the souls of the characters may have been crushed by the direst of circumstances, at the end of the day they are still lifted up by some form of grace and redemption brought about by our intuitive capacity to do something good to our fellows. (The last scene of "The Child" is a very fine example of an act of grace, patterned after the last scene in Robert Bresson's "Pickpocket.") It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that Olivier's character as a carpenter references the biblical figure of Joseph the carpenter, who, as we all know, accompanied a pregnant Mary as they searched for a shelter wherein to give birth to Jesus, but to no avail as no one dared to let them in. Whereas Francis, on the other hand, could be a stand-in for no other than The Son himself, searching for someone to be his guardian, loving and taking care of him without question. It's a display of the film's irony that Olivier (as Joseph) is the one who is initially reluctant to take Francis (as The Son) in and that it is the latter himself who is searching for a place he can call home. 

Before Jean-Pierre and Luc took to making narrative films, they were social documentarists who mainly recorded the working conditions in their country. The revolutionary fervor in those documentaries they carried over to their feature films, thus their working-class characters and milieu. But as the Marxist spirit of their films is in dialectical harmony with Christian precepts, the revolution acquires a different level of meaning - the revolution to do something good, something in accordance with "faith, hope and charity" to one's fellow humans. 

An unlikely father-son relationship in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's powerful humanist drama "The Son"