La noche más larga

At the age Sami was when he woke up on that dreadful morning in the flat of the girl who had pulled him the night before, I guess most teenagers would have panicked and made stupid decisions. I'm not so sue that they would have "borrowed" their Dads' taxis, mind you, in the way Sami did.

Much of the first three episodes is an indictment of French society in the way it treats completely integrated Muslims as "the other" - Arabs. They are also a warning against jumping to conclusions, especially if the presumed guilty ones are a minority.

The French justice system is very different from the English one and I wonder how true to life the courtroom drama scenes that take up much of the last three episodes are. The actress playing barrister Isabelle was perfect for the part and carried off her role as a defence lawyer perfectly especially in the parts where she had to act ruthlessly.

I particularly liked, and was shocked by, the portrayal of prison life in France where inmates have to belong to a gang for their own protection in return for carrying out unsavoury or illegal tasks. The actor playing Sami was especially strong here as he negotiated his way through jail and ended up with the evil Anis.

Obviously there will not be a second season as this was more like a mini series. It was a strong piece of work and I liked it.