District 13, is a 2004 French action film, directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced
by Luc Besson. The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of stunt
sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects.
Because of this, some film critics have drawn comparisons to the popular Thai film Ong-Bak.
David Belle, regarded as the founder of parkour, plays Leïto, one of the protagonists in the
film.
Plot In 2010, social problems such as violence,
drugs and organized crime have overrun the poorer suburbs of Paris, especially Banlieue
13, commonly referred to as B13, a ghetto with a population of some two million. Unable
to control B13 the authorities construct a high wall topped by barbed tape around the
entire area forcing the inhabitants within to survive without education, proper utilities
or police protection behind the containment wall. Police checkpoints stop anybody going
in or out. Three years later an almost feudal system
has developed amongst the street gangs of B13. The area is now flooded with hard drugs
such as heroin and completely controlled by gangsters. Certain blocks are ruled over by
various individuals and one high rise apartment block is looked after by an athletic and street-wise
man known as Leïto. Leïto hates drugs and injustice and wages a one-man war against
a neighboring gang lord named Taha Bemamud to keep his own building and people safe and
free of drugs. Leïto captures 20 kg of cocaine from Taha, worth over a million euro, which
incites Taha to send his thugs to recover the merchandise, led by the towering K2. Leïto
destroys the cocaine by using bleach and uses parkour to evade Taha's thugs through the
building and across rooftops. Taha kidnaps Leïto's younger sister Lola
to use against him, but Leïto manages to invade Taha's base, rescue his sister, and
kidnap Taha in turn. Leïto takes Taha to the police office at the edge of the district
perimeter, but the police are in the process of abandoning their position on orders from
the French Ministry, and are also threefold outnumbered by Taha's gang. The police release
Taha and allow him to take Lola with him to avoid a confrontation. In addition, they put
Leïto in a cell also to contain the situation, but Leïto kills the police chief in the process
for handing over Lola. Six months later, outside of B13 in the affluent
areas of Paris, an undercover police captain named Damien Tomaso infiltrates an underground
casino and attempts to arrest Carlos Montoya, the gangster who owns it. His extraction procedure
fails, however, forcing him to fight his way through an army of thugs to escape the casino.
Upon the mission's completion, Damien immediately receives another assignment from his chief
and also the Defence Secretary of France, Mr Krüger. He is told that Taha has stolen
an experimental neutron bomb that is set to detonate in 24 hours. His mission is to convince
Leïto, imprisoned for months, to lead him to Taha's base so that he can disarm the bomb.
Damien attempts to pass himself off as a fellow prisoner and helps Leïto escape to B13, but
Leïto sees through Damien's act and abandons him. After fighting off some of the local
thugs, Damien locates Leïto and admits the truth. They team up to disarm the bomb and
rescue Lola. The pair surrenders to Taha in order to gain access to his base. There, they
discover that Taha has rigged the warhead to a missile launcher, pointed towards the
center of Paris and is prepared to blackmail the government with it. Taha demands a high
ransom, which is refused by Damien's government contact. The pair escape, and while Taha's
thugs pursue them, he discovers that the government has emptied all of his offshore accounts in
the Bahamas and elsewhere. One of Taha's men asks how Taha will pay them. Frustrated, Taha
tries to shoot the member who asked him that only to discover that his gun is empty from
shooting one of his thugs for letting Leïto and Damien escape. Taha offers money from
a safe he possesses but knowing that with Tahas accounts emptied, there is no reason
to endure his ruthlessness any longer, the thugs shoot and kill Taha. This leaves K2,
a more sympathetic leader, in charge and K2 has a moment of reconciliation with Leïto,
suggesting that peace is possible in the future within B13.
Leïto and Damien fight their way to the tower building holding Lola and the bomb. They are
confronted by their final obstacle: Yeti, a substantial henchman left by Taha to block
their access to the bomb. Damien underestimates Yeti and tries attacking him, but is gradually
overpowered. Leito helps out Damien and gains the upper hand with the henchman by tying
him up with electric cord. Damien then picks up a cinderblock and smashes it on Yeti's
head, knocking him out. Having defeated Yeti, Damien calls his contact to receive the deactivation
code, 9293709B13. Leïto recognizes the code as a reference to the bomb's location, the
day's date, and the district, B13. Leïto deduces that the government has set them up
and the code will actually detonate the bomb instead of deactivating it. He fights Damien
to prevent him, who chose to believe in the government over Leito, from entering the code.
Damien almost does so, but is restrained by Lola. The timer runs out and the bomb does
not detonate, proving Leïto's theory. The pair return to the government building
with the bomb and use it to force Mr Krüger admit that he had planned to blow up B13 as
a means to get rid of it. The confession is then revealed to have been filmed and is immediately
broadcast by pirate television transmission across all channels. The pair's actions cause
a major scandal that sparks public support for B13. Soon the rest of the government promises
to tear down the containment wall and bring back schools and police to B13. Leïto and
Damien depart as friends, and Lola kisses Damien to encourage him to visit B13 in the
future. Cast
Cyril Raffaelli as Capt. Damien Tomaso David Belle as Leïto
Tony D'Amario as K2 Dany Verissimo as Lola
Bibi Naceri as Taha Bemamud François Chattot as Krüger
Nicolas Woirion as Corsini Patrick Olivier as Le Colonel
Samir Guesmi as Jamel Jeff Rudom as Yeti
Reception District 13 received mostly positive reviews
outside of France, it holds a rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 110 reviews.
In France however, the movie received mostly negative reviews from both spectators and
press, holding on Allociné, a french cinema website, a 2.8 out of 5, based on 4 press
critics, and a 2.1 out of 5 based on 6992 spectator votes. The main issues pointed by
the French critics were the similarity with both Escape from New York and Ong Bak, and
the shallowness of the plot. Sequel
Filming of a sequel, originally titled "Banlieue 14", began in August 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia,
and continued until October 2008. David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli both reprised their original
roles of Leito and Damien, respectively. The film with Luc Besson again producing and writing
the screenplay. The title for the sequel was officially changed to District 13: Ultimatum
in the post-production stages. It was released in France on February 18, 2009, and the United
Kingdom on October 2, 2009. Remake
An English-language remake of the film, set in Detroit, was titled Brick Mansions, began
pre-production in 2010 by EuropaCorp. It was released in April 2014, and stars Paul Walker
as Damien, with David Belle reprising his role from the original and rapper RZA as the
gang leader. Brick Mansions is also the last movie that Walker finished before his death
in November 2013. References
External links District 13 at the Internet Movie Database
District 13 at AllMovie District 13 at Rotten Tomatoes
Interview with director Pierre Morel at SFFWorld.com