Les Misérables(2019)
dir. Ladj Ly
A cop, a lion cub, and a suburb on the edge.
Where to watch: Free: Kanopy (library card may be required), Amazon Prime Video free with ads, Amazon MX Player; Prime Video subscription; no rent listed (JustWatch US, checked 2026-11-04). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
A new cop joins an anti-crime unit in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his novel, and spends a hot summer day learning how the officers and the neighborhood's kids, gangs and elders actually coexist. When a teenager steals a lion cub from a circus, things go wrong. Ly grew up there and filmed the area himself, and the film builds to a standoff on a stairwell where nobody is entirely wrong and everyone is in danger.
Why it’s here
It's a film about what happens when a state treats a neighborhood as an enemy and then is surprised by what grows. What's punk is that it comes from inside: Ly shot the real streets with local kids, drones and handheld phones as part of the story. What's pedagogical is the ending, which refuses easy blame and asks who is responsible when the cycle has been running for years. Note: R-rated; police violence, a child hurt, strong language. Older teens and adults. French, with subtitles. Pairs with La Haine (suggested 11-08) and, for younger readers, A Wish in the Dark (suggested 11-12), which is loosely inspired by Hugo's novel.
Where This Film Lives