‘Arthur Rambo’, the sadism of social networks

‘Arthur Rambo’

interpreters Rabah Nait Oufella, Bilel Chegrani, Antoine Reinartz, Sarah Henochsberg

Year 2021

premiere April 22, 2022

★★

inspiration The real case of Mehdi MeklatA young writer and blogger who ceased to be a French media phenomenon and turned into a pariah as soon as his anti-Semitic and homophobic tweets, which he published under a pseudonym years ago, came to light. Laurent Cantet’s new movie He devotes 86 minutes to questioning the motives and intellectual arguments his hero put forward during his rapid decline, assisted by successive secondary characters whose only function is to verbalize ideological positions. However more interested in witnessing an argument than developing a dramatic intrigue‘Arthur Rambo’ says nothing about Twitter’s cancellation culture or its evils that have yet to be said a thousand times and in a more meaningful way.

While it is true that he captured images in time brutality and sadism produced and supported by networks, the film does not go beyond the surface of its predecessor; everything in it is an approximation, just a summary of the questions to be explored – are the sins committed in the nets a prescription? Can an artist leave his work? Can tweets be considered art? Is social advancement a real option for the immigrant population in Paris?– immediately followed by an ending that serves more as an exit than a closing.