As an analysis of power relations "Les Mains en l'air" is one of the finest child-films I've ever seen. The film is also an excellent example of how the French have made ​​the most interesting political films of 2000's - and it is possible by describing the situation of children. List of the politically strong, originally intelligent films is staggering: Tavernier's "Ça commence aujourd'hui" (1999), Nicolas Philibert's documentary "To be and to have" (2002), Laurent Cantet's docufiction "The Class" (2008), and just alongside the previous films this Romain Goupil's film "Les Mains en l'air".The frame story begins in year 2067. The central character Milana tries to explain to an alleged recipient (of her time) that it may seem unbelievable how in 2009 the children were grown in large groups. There is also another fantastical element: the children have their own cell phones with a ringtone (ultrasound) that adults can not hear.If these ideas seem utopian to audience, it will have to think twice about what really counts as utopian in the actual story of escape.

French actor, screenwriter and director Romain Goupil's fifth feature film which he wrote, is a French production which was shot on location in France. It was screened at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival in 2010 and was produced by German-French producer Margaret Ménégoz. It tells the story about a Czech immigrant who one summer day in March 2067 begins to reminiscence her childhood years in Paris, France and the time when her parents had leave the country and she had to move in with a new family in order to continue her education. Finely and engagingly directed by French filmmaker Romain Goupil, this humane and political drama which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws an incisive and portrayal of the communion between a group of young children who comes together in a protest against the political situation in France during the early 20th century when they learn that one of their friends is being deported from their country. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions and the fine cinematography by Marion Befve, Irina Lubtchansky and Mikaël Lubtchansky, this dialog-driven and compassionately narrated coming-of-age tale which captures the distinctions between the world of children and the world of adults, depicts several studies of character, examines themes like immigration, friendship and courage and contains a fine score by Italian-born French composer Philippe Hersant which emphasizes it's subtle and nostalgic atmosphere.This finely paced and inspiring tale about taking a stand against something one believes in and standing up for someone one cares for, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, the prominent acting performance by Italian-French actress, screenwriter and director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and the remarkable and intuitive acting performances by all of the young actors and actresses in their debut feature film roles. A mindful and significant drama which gained the European Silver Ribbon Valeria Bruni Tedeschi at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists in 2011.

We are told by a woman talking to the camera it is 2058. She cannot forget an incident that marked her life that took place fifty years before. In flashbacks, we are taken to a poor area of the Paris of 2009. The neighborhood is basically full of immigrants. The police is looking for illegal aliens wherever they can find to deport them. Among the would be deportees is Milana, a twelve year old Chechen girl.Milana is part of a group led by Blaise, an intense boy that is involved in pirating CDs and DVDs. Only Blaise and his sister, Alice, seem to have been born of French parents. Most of the other kids are the children of parents that have come to France from other countries without a legal status. Blaise learns about the possibility that his friend Milana will suffer such a fate, so he becomes involved in making her stay.Blaise's mother, Cendrine, gets involved in trying to save the children facing deportation by offering to take Milana home with her. She even takes a group of the children to the country and to the beach. When the situation becomes tense as a woman commits suicide and the police start raiding the area, Blaise and the group decide to barricade themselves in order to protect Milana. Finally, one of the boys that knew about their plan is instrumental for getting them out of hiding. The good news is that Milana's case has been solved and she can remain in France.An entertaining film by Romain Goupil, who also appears in it. The world of the illegal immigrants is examined from the children's point of view. They would never betray one of their own, protecting them no matter what. The film makes a case of the human tragedy desperate people will get into, trying to make it better for their children in a safer place than the one they left behind. In an epilogue, an older Blaise tells us how much he always remembers that period of his childhood, never having forgotten Milana.Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi plays Cendrine. The stars are the children though. There are wonderful appearances by Jules Ritmanic and Linda Doudaeva, as Blaise and Milana.

A film that concerns itself with the issue of residents without documentation in France, Les Main en l'Air has the good taste not to besiege us with didactic speech-making, and approaches the subject from a thoroughly human angle, through a retrospective account of a touching and melancholy friendship between a twelve-year-old French boy and a girl of Chechen culture who are beginning to understand each other as more than chums. Alternating between insouciance and gravity, play and fear, Romain Goupil's film creates wonders with its scenes of secret meetings of a group of young schoolmates, full of freshness and nostalgia, thanks to well-written dialog and appealing comedy.