PoUr DE VrAi (For real)

PoUr DE VrAi (aka ForrEAL)

“We’ve been friends since we were little. Since we were in kindergarten. There’s not much else to say,” says 11 year old Mady about his friendship to Merouane. Growing up together in the north east of Paris, the boys experience days full of fantasy, thrill and adventure.

In POUR DE VRAI we accompany Mourane and Mady playing and exploring, while sharing their dreams and fears with each other. The film captures the ups and downs of their friendship, portraying their close and natural-feeling bond without neglecting differences and conflicts. Through their eyes, we experience what growing up feels like.

Leaning against a bridge railing, they let their eyes sweep over a train yard. “What a beautiful landscape!“ Rusting tracks as far as the eyes can see, framed by grey high-rises and the sound of heavy traffic in the distance. It is against this backdrop that director Maria Claudia Blanco captures the magic of childhood friendship. Where fights feel rough, but do not matter the next day. Where the next adventure is just around the corner and everywhere is a playground. Watching POUR DE VRAI evokes a sense of nostalgia and makes you wistfully remember your own childhood attitude towards life, when all dreams were big and yet seemed undoubtedly possible.

The camera rarely only focuses on the two boys, but rather frames them within the city playground. We always meet them at eye level – personal, but never invasive. Maria Claudia Blanco manages to make the viewer feel like another like-minded friend that joins the conversation, rather than feeling like an intruder. When an argument breaks out between the two, they have to remind each other of the camera’s presence, interrupting the viewer’s immersion into their lives, but nonetheless giving the film, and Mady’s and Marouane’s story, a sense of honesty and realness.

Seriousness and cheerfulness, irony and sympathy combined in a mixture that makes the audience smile. In the end, one thing transpires the most: Mady’s and Mourane’s friendship may have their ups and downs but they always keep it real.

POUR DE VRAI is nominated for the GROSSE KLAPPE Award at the 20th doxs! festival in Duisburg. Endowed by the Federal Agency for Civic Education the award is given since 2011 to productions with an outstanding aesthetical and political approach.

Director: Maria Claudia Blanco Producer: Antoine Devulder Production & Distribution: La Fémis France, 2020, 22’

© expanding Focus

The Doxspot column is published with the help of the doxs! festival for children & youth documentaries in Duisburg and other cities in the Ruhr Area. www.do-xs.de.