There was a time when Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were considered the heirs apparent to the role of greatest social realist filmmakers, their work being the gold standard for films about the lives of ordinary people navigating challenging circumstances, each one reflecting deeper conversations on the nature of life and death and everything in between. However, as we have often seen, any artist who fails to evolve or adapt their style to the changing time is destined to be left behind – and as strong as they may be as filmmakers, the Dardennes are exceptionally stubborn, genuinely believing that they can approach their modern films with the same formulae and conventions with which they worked earlier in their careers. It has almost become a trend to view them as hopelessly out of touch, remnants of the past that simply don’t have a place in the contemporary cinematic landscape. I’m not in the business of deriding the old masters or criticizing veterans for pursuing their unique ideas, since there is always some kind of merit in familiarity, even if it is only marginal. The problem is that the Dardennes have not made any effort to reconfigure their style, while still opting to make the same socially aware, current issues dramas that brought them acclaim in the first place, which sounds at least partially progressive, but is quite the contrary. The most blatant example of this in practice (and perhaps one of their most divisive films to date) is Young Ahmed, which tells the story of a Muslim teenager who is successfully radicalised by a faith leader, which sets off the idea that he needs to kill his teacher for her lack of morals. Even in a single-sentence summary, the film already comes across as beyond salvation. It doesn’t help that the directors were telling this story through the same methods they used when they made their debut in the 1980s, with identical approaches to social realism, and a similarly heavy-handed narrative style that does very little to improve an already troubling story, which leads to a film that is best described as an absolute ordeal.

Leniency is always a valuable trait in anyone who loves film, since very rarely will anything be perfect, and we often find that there is value in looking for merit in even the most middling of works. However, some films seem to lack any kind of silver lining, and as a result, we struggle to find anything positive to say about them, which can be a challenge for those of us who try to be more optimistic about certain films. Some have defended Young Ahmed as being a film that has pure intentions, which may be true – no one could ever deny that the Dardennes were trying to make a compassionate and powerful character study that finds the humanity beneath a vile individual. However, intentions can’t sustain an entire film, and in the case of this story, it is extinguished within a few minutes, where it is made extremely clear that there isn’t much work being done to develop these ideas. Young Ahmed is a film that is most appropriately described as callousness masquerading as sensitivity, with the directors’ usual approach of taking a challenging subject and filtering it through their unfurnished, bare-boned social realist style being the primary method of telling this story. It also doesn’t help that their style does not lend itself to being particularly easy to watch either, since they do very little work to develop their characters or give them much depth, leaving that up to the viewer to piece together through the narrative fragments provided for us. The message here is unclear, and is only rivalled by the fact that there is very little momentum that drives the film – none of the    side characters learn their lesson, nor do we come away feeling like we have seen something compelling. Instead, we have 80 minutes of the most trite, cliched social commentary ever committed to film, placed there by a pair of directors who seem to have cobbled together this story from sensationalistic sources that didn’t even begin to grasp the breadth of the ideas they intended to explore, which is certainly not a good way of making any film, let alone one that tackles such a pressing, complex subject.

Usually, it is important to be wary of discussing the identity of an artist and the role it plays in their work, especially when we have someone telling a story about a group or demographic entirely different to their own. While I usually do prefer when the stories of marginalized communities are told by people who are at least partially associated with the group, it is not a strict requirement, since there is always a more nuanced conversation that needs to go along with it. Young Ahmed is one of those rare films where it is made abundantly clear from the start that these are not the directors who should have been telling this story, with very little space for giving them the benefit of the doubt. This film is a jumble of ideas related to the Islamic faith and religious extremism, written and directed by elderly Western filmmakers who may fashion themselves as socially aware and conscientious of broader cultural issues, but are still quite limited in their worldview, which is made very clear throughout this film. It doesn’t take an expert to realize why this was a poor idea from the inception, and there isn’t anything in this film that suggests that they had any idea on how to handle this story. Even beginning the conversation they are so intent on striking feels like it was a struggle – whatever motivated the Dardennes to make this film is entirely unclear, especially since they seemed to lack the knowledge required to tell this story. In the past, they have succeeded massively when looking at subjects to which they had at least some experience, and as much as they would like to believe themselves to be truly remarkable filmmakers capable of soulful, meaningful stories, they are so hopelessly out of their depth with Young Ahmed, it becomes almost offensive. Even those outside the community depicted can tell that there is something very off-kilter about how they explore this subject, and the feeling of disdain and revulsion we get as the film progresses is not intentional, but rather a byproduct of two directors who genuinely believed they were telling an important story, which derailed right from the start due to their lack of self-awareness or willingness to acknowledge that they weren’t the right voices for this project.

In terms of characterisation, Young Ahmed still fails to make much of a positive impression, which is peculiar considering how this was supposed to be an intimate portrait of the titular character as he navigates his complex feelings of insecurity and vengeful rage, which leads to the act of violence that catalyzes the events of the film. To their credit, one aspect of this film that the Dardennes do get at least partially correct is avoiding making it into a story of redemption – Ahmed is just as cynical and angry at the end as he was at the beginning of the story, so there isn’t any effort to show him as just misguided or immature. However, this is where the praise ends, because the lack of mobility is not worth celebrating, since it only highlights the pointless nature of this film. This character does not go on any journey and doesn’t learn a lesson until the final moments, where an unfortunate accident (which is delivered as if it was plucked directly out of a slapstick comedy) renders him helpless, with the only person who can help him is the same person he tried to murder just based on her beliefs. It is cliched and annoyingly obvious, especially when it tries desperately to cling to the final vestiges of profundity that were never in its wheelhouse. It isn’t the fault of the young Idir Ben Addi (who plays the titular character), but the Dardennes did not develop the character well enough, to the point where even this performance feels stiff and lifeless, without any aspect worth discussing. It is a misfire on every level, but its refusal to engage with this character, even if it is to present him as some despicable monstrosity, is perhaps the most heinous of them all, especially since a slight bit of work could have entirely shifted the trajectory of this film, instead of turning it into a muddle of ridiculous ideas and even worse social concepts.

At its heart, I believe that Young Ahmed was made in good faith and that its intention was not to be an overwrought caricature of a social realist drama, but rather a touching and affecting depiction of the way faith influences our lives. Unfortunately, this doesn’t show in the final product, which often takes the form of a parable about human decency, as delivered by storytellers that may not be past their prime (since I do think the Dardennes are still very gifted filmmakers when the material matches their skill set) but are not the right people to tell this story. Considering how they have had a long history of championing younger voices and promoting inclusion, it is bizarre that they chose to helm this film instead of seeking out someone more appropriate to tackle this material since there isn’t anything within their set of talents that could justify having them tell this story. Ultimately, Young Ahmed is a misfire in every way – it is overwrought, puts sentimental emotion in the most inappropriate of places, comes across as deeply insincere at many parts, and just never achieves anything of value throughout its entire running time, which may be a paltry 84 minutes, but feels twice as long due to the pacing issues, non-existent storyline and jagged approach to exploring themes that were best left untouched if they could not find someone with actual knowledge of this subject to explore it. As a whole, Young Ahmed is just an ordeal, and a personal low for the Dardenne brothers, who have shown that they are not always the compassionate filmmakers they are reported to be, but rather slightly out of touch and in need of some introspective thought, which will hopefully allow all involved to realize that some stories don’t need to be told unless by someone who can handle the nuanced conversations that come about in the aftermath.