The Promise, the film that garnered the Dardennes international attention, is a harrowing rite-of-passage story partly inspired by Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Depicting Europe as a soulless capitalist subjecting the underdeveloped world to a new form of slavery, the film focuses on the feud that develops between an apprentice mechanic Igor and his immigrant-trafficking father Roger over how to help the widow of an African worker. The Promise represents a bold statement that established the Dardennes’ social-realistic aesthetic.

Subtitles: HR