In France, a Film Taps Into a Desire for Change

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/world/europe/france-activism-elections.html

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PARIS — In France, as in the United States, there is no “politics as usual” this year. With popular disaffection on the rise, traditional parties and candidates have been thrown off course as voters look for alternatives to the status quo.

The restless, sometimes incoherent, clamor for change has taken many forms in France — support for the extreme-right National Front; recurring strikes by hard-left labor unions; and a protest movement known as Nuit Debout, or Up All Night, which for the last month has gathered young people in Paris and several other cities to vent their frustration with the “system.”

If there is one thing these various dissatisfied voters would agree upon, it is the failure of the French political establishment, on the left and on the right, to solve the country’s persistent problems — high unemployment, low growth and the social cleavage created by immigration and inequality.

This frustration helps explain the unlikely success of “Demain,” or “Tomorrow,” a French documentary. Since its release in December, the film has drawn almost one million viewers — unheard-of figures at the box office in a category in which movies rarely top ticket sales of 50,000.

The 80-minute film was made as a road movie with a budget of 1.3 million euros, about $1.5 million, one-third of it collected through crowdfunding.

With a chatty narration by Mélanie Laurent, a well-known French actress, it tracks a global quest for workable initiatives in places as disparate as Detroit, Finland, Iceland and India, where people have found ways to move away from dependence on fossil fuels, mobilize grass-roots democracy, grow their own food and inspire children to learn.

If this sounds a bit Boy Scoutish, as one critic suggested, it is, unabashedly so, according to Cyril Dion, who, along with Ms. Laurent, directed the film.

“It reconnects people to something positive and gives them hope,” he said in an interview.

The movie opened at a propitious moment, after a difficult year that included two terrorist attacks in Paris and a persistent economic crisis, he said, “when so many people are disillusioned, when the politicians have nothing to propose.”

The response has been enthusiastic and sustained: The film is playing in 122 French cinemas, for longer than some recent Hollywood blockbusters. Audiences have been known to stand up and applaud as the credits appear on the screen. Mr. Dion said some viewers have written to tell him that it changed their lives.

When he showed the movie on April 17 at the Place de la République, in central Paris, where the Nuit Debout protesters have been camping out every night since March 31, a crowd of some 2,500 people — mostly young — braved unusually cold temperatures and occasional technical difficulties.

“They, too, are looking for solutions that can work,” said Mr. Dion, 37, a former actor with a long history of civic activism.

As France lurches toward presidential elections next year, its two main parties are deeply divided. President François Hollande, a Socialist, has popularity ratings below 20 percent, the worst for any sitting French leader, and may not run again. For its part, the main opposition party, the Republicans, is trying to herd 11 declared candidates toward a primary in November.

Only the National Front is on track, with a xenophobic, anti-European message that is feeding off a deeply pessimistic view of French society.

At the Place de la République, the Nuit Debout movement has deliberately avoided any political platform or structured leadership. Protesters say they want to avoid the kind of “vertical” hierarchy that they blame for the paralysis of the current system. They have opted instead for what they call a “horizontal” movement that draws strength from the grass roots.

It is in this inchoate context that “Demain” continues to attract viewers. According to Mr. Dion, this success is proof that optimism, fueled by positive can-do energy, can be a force for change.

“It is a vision that is almost political,” he said.