THE TEMPLE WOODS GANG (LE GANG DES BOIS DU TEMPLE)

Year: 2023

Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

Cast: Regis Laroche, Marie Loustalot, Slimane Dazi, Philippe Petit

Writer: Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche

Country: France

 

BERLINALE 2023 (Forum)

 

Pons is grieving the death of his aged mother with whom he shared an apartment in the Temple Woods housing project outside Paris. His years of service as an army sniper have come to an end. He sits alone and in tears at the sparsely-attended funeral mass.

Bébé lives in the next-door apartment with his wife Linda and two toddlers. Linda cannot understand why he must head out to the auto garage again. Bébé agrees to pick the children up from school, and she sweeps away her concerns about what he has been up to – as long as he is careful, which he says he always is.

Mouss works at a rental agency for high end vehicles. He gives Bébé the green light for the job to go forward.

The friends offer their condolences to Pons, whose mother made crepes for them and never minded when they stole pieces from her candy dish.

At the garage the merry band of friends joke about how they will be on easy street after the robbery. The next night, they make short work of hijacking a van transporting the belongings of an Arab prince to the airport...

 

The Temple Woods Gang - poster