District B13

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David Belle in a chase sequence from Banlieue 13.

District B13 is the title of the English-subtitled release of a 2004 French action film, Banlieue 13, directed by Pierre Morel and produced by Luc Besson.

The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of outrageous stunt sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects. Because of this, the film has drawn comparisons to the popular Thai film , which also featured a parkour-inspired chase.

David Belle, the founder of parkour, appears in the film as one of the main characters.

The film was later dubbed into English and in 2006 was released into US (June 2, 2006) and UK (July 7, 2006) cinemas with the title District 13.

Plot

Set in 2010, the film is about Leïto (David Belle) — a resident of the walled-off ghetto of District B13 in Paris — District B13 is over run with gangsters, guns, drugs, and little to absolutely no police authority. Education is completely non-existent. It is the directors view of "What the suburbs might be in a few years if we don't change things and make the wrong decisions."

With many of the local gangs terrorizing and destroying the community, Leïto makes an effort to preserve at least some, if not all, of what's left of District B13. But with this means upsetting the local gangs and mob-bosses. And when they respond by kidnapping his sister, he takes action.

Meanwhile, under-cover police agent Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) is given orders by his boss to infiltrate District B13 and diffuse or recover a "clean bomb" missile stolen by a gang. They tell him to befriend Leïto, a resident who knows the ghetto inside and out. Although Damien attempts to get out of doing such a mission that is out of his nature, he accepts.

Right off the bat Leïto realizes Damien's true intentions, and makes it clear he wants no part of it. Afterwards Damien confronts Leïto in a warehouse next to the location of the bomb. He offers to help save Leïto's sister if Leïto helps him recover the bomb. They make the deal but not before the gang comes in guns loaded with orders to bring back "the cop" and Leïto.

Once in front of the gang's leader, Damien attempts to buy off the missile from the boss. The leader ends up anteing up the price to 20 million Euros. Damien accepts and calls his headquarters to wire the money to the leader's account.

To his surprise, headquarters confidentially declines wiring over the money and tells them to "Find another way." and hangs up the phone. It would take thirty hours for the transfer to go through, so the leader orders the two men into the "waiting room" (What appears to be a sleeping quarters for the rest of the gang.)

Leïto knows of a tunnel he made in the bathroom by the elevator a long time ago. You pass by the elevator on the way to the leader's office, so Leïto and Damien agree to trick the guards into bringing them back to the leader's office for a negotiation.

While walking down the narrow hallway to the leader's office (surrounded front and back by about half a dozen guards), Leïto signals "Let's go now." and a fight sequence initiates as the two make their way towards the bathroom.

The hole was made under a toilet in a stall, and the two kick through into an underground tunnel. Another fight-chase-escape sequence occurs. Meanwhile back in the leader's office, his accountant informs him that while Damien was setting up the transfer to the leader's account, he traced all the leader's bank accounts and emptied them.

With no money to pay his henchmen with, the gang turned on him and killed him. They then took it upon themselves to find Damien and Leïto.

The prolonged chase ends with the two lead characters surrounded at gunpoint. Instead of revenge however, the gang members ask for Damien and Leïto to deactivate the bomb and save District B13.

When Leïto overhears headquarters giving Damien the code (9293709B13), his already existing suspicions of Damien's leaders grow as he recognizes certain patterns in the code. 9293, the area code of District B13, 709 (July 9th), the day's date, and B13, short for District B13.

But Damien insists it is merely a coincidence and that they don't have time to argue over such things. But Leïto is sure something is not right with orders being given by the headquarters, and attempts to stop Damien. He throws him a few yards back, and they then engage in a highly-complex martial arts fight-sequence as the timer goes down on the missile.

Damien and Leïto persist in insisting that each other are wrong. Damien manages to get in every digit except the last digit, 3, into the panel as Leïto tries to hold him back.

Damien's finger reaches only a few inches from the panel, as both grow weary and tired. The timer begins dropping down from 10, and Leïto's sister jumps onto Damien with her handcuffed hands clenching him down. She insists, "I trust my brother more than you."

Damien seems to accept that he's not going to get in the last digit, and their fate lies in the true intentions of his government.

The timer stops, and they all watch as the machine's timer goes blank and no explosion or damage occurs. Damien puts his hands over his face at the realization that Leïto's suspicions were correct.

As they come down from the roof holding the container (bomb inside) at each end, the gang surprisingly lets them go without any blood shed.

Back in Paris, the two political leaders ponder as to why there is no word of the bomb exploding or any visible explosion in the first place. They pause and hear the sounds of fighting going on in the hallway, only to have Damien and Leïto themselves break through the door carrying the container holding the bomb up to the politician's desk.

Damien and Leïto pretend they forgot the code, and then slowly start typing it in as they "remember it". The politicians beg them to stop "before it explodes all of Paris", thus admitting that the code wasn't to defuse the bomb, but to prime it for explosion.

After getting out the confessions that the two corrupt politicians intended to blow up the hopeless District B13, Leïto points to the camera man on the adjacent roof. Damien then picks up the remote and turns on the TV to show the exact conversation replaying on TV to the public's eye. Leïto and Damien leave the room with a satisfied grin as the two politicians loosen their neck ties with sweat running down their faces.

Cut to a scene of Damien dropping Leïto and his sister back off at the entrance to District B13, reminding them that they still have the option of staying in London. But Leïto insists his place belongs in District B13.

Schools and Authority start reappearing in District B13 as hopes for a brighter future unfold.

References