November ( Novembre )

Even if i had been to several European countries by the year of 2015, i was ready to visit Paris on November 13. We were taking my mother back to France that she has not been in since the late 70´s and our flight was taking of on November 13 late that evening. I remember as we were preparing to head from home down to the train station to go to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, i noticed on the way that i had some missed phone calls that i did not recognize. I didn´t have the sound on so i listened to the voicemail that was left on my phone. It was our flight company asking me to call them up and so i did. A woman named Malin told me that they had to stop all flights to Paris because there have been terrorist attack in Paris. She told me that they can´t take any risks for any passengers and need to make sure no flights would go to Paris at that moment. I remember i was completely shocked, knowing that we were trying to get to our flight. It was of course cancelled but i had to listen to the news and really hear what was going on. It felt so unreal that it happened that specific day, our first trip to Paris. I started thinking:- What if we would have gone a day earlier? A lot of thoughts rolled around in my mind. Looking back today 8 years later i am thankful that the flight was cancelled, because you never know if all flights would have been safe either. After we got back home after a long night, i turned on CNN News right away and watched all morning. There was a lot of information coming out about the Paris attack and then i also found out how many victims have been found dead. All together 220 people killed and another 416 people injured. When you hear numbers like that you find it very unreal that something like this could actually happen. We didn´t get all the money back from the travel package but that´s ok, i am just glad that we were not in Paris at the moment when everything happened. Since the terrorist attacks in Paris, 2015, i have listened to several crime podcast episodes about this horrible tragedy. The criminals behind these attacks seemed to be very disturbing personalities with no empathy for no one. Last year i heard that a new French film was coming out that told the story about the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015 in a film called November ( Novembre is the French title ). Ever since i heard about this film i just knew i had to see it, considering i was supposed to be in Paris that same day the terrorist attack took place. I have always been a fan of French films especially from director Francios Ozon and his 2003 film Swimming Pool. Knowing the horrible tragedies that took place in November of 2015, is this film based on the criminal acts suprisingly good or is it not as well made as i was hoping it would be?

November 13, 2015 in Paris, France. What seemed to be a completely ordinary day will change completely when three suicide bombers at 9.15 p.m. outside the Stade de France stadium kill innocent people watching a football match. It turns out that these are not the only suicide bombers and the killings continue on other locations across Paris.

If you love films based on real criminal cases you simply have to see November ( Novembre ). This is a very professional film from start to finish that really let you follow the investigation of the terrorist attacks across Paris. They really manage to capture the heavy atmopshere of everyone who is forced to work on these cases, knowing that so many people died and they could not stop the terrorists. There are some scenes where you see how difficult it is too handle all of the sadness that they are forced to deal with so many innocent people killed. What do you do when it affect you personally, is it ok to mourn or do you just turn your emotions off? One of the details that i especially appreciate with this film is how good this film looks. The cinematography from Nicolas Loir is really smooth and effective, and the late evening scenes in Paris looks really good. We might as well get into the characters and what a fantastic lead performance we have from actor Jean Dujardin ( you might recognize him from Martin Scorsese´s film The Wolf Of Wall Street ) as the character Fred. Knowing that Fred have a lot to deal with surrounding these tragedies, i feel that Jean Dujardin manage to bring out the frustration and anger that his character Fred feel. There is especially certain scenes between him and actress Sandrine Kiberlain ( who is really good in the 2015 French film Florida, a must watch ) as the character Héloise that really capture your attention. The chemistry between these actors is so good that you can tell that they really tried to capture how difficult it must have been working on these cases. The acting in general from actors in this film is really good, and it feels like they really made sure that they found the right actors to portrait each character. I have to mention that this film does not disrespect muslims in general in this film that they really show respect to the muslim community in France. Just because some people are terrorists does not mean every muslim is. Director Cédric Jimenez ( director of the really good French drug drama The Connection, a must watch ) does not only tell a very powerful story with November, but he also show a very emotional side of how difficult it must be dealing with terrorist attacks and how you find the guilty ones. His camera work is very effective and he clearly have a sense of how to tell a criminal story without making the plot too complicated. November is a film that will make you emotional and fascinated about the cases of the terrorist attacks of Paris in 2015. I really hope this film gets a wider release on DVD or blu ray, November really deserves to be seen by all ages and nationalities.

Rating: DDDD