CINEMA – “Police, your papers, identity check. Formula that has become classic and you have to get used to it. Only in the districts, the counts of the abuse of power have abused too much ”. Already in 1993, Joey Starr and Kool Shen denounced the contempt of politicians for the suburbs and police violence.
So for the director Audrey Estrougo, it was obvious that the biopic she devotes to NTM evokes the political scope of their texts.Supreme, played by Sandor Funtek and Théo Christine (both pre-nominated in the revelation category at the César 2022), is released in theaters this Wednesday, November 24.
The film starts in 1989 and tells the birth of the legendary rap group, but also that of hip-hop in France. From a group of friends from 93 where we dance and graffiti, emerge two guys with rebellious lyrics and feverish rhythms which quickly galvanize the crowds and… clash with the authorities.
From NTM, “we retained the escapades rather than the content”
“Their birth impacted the fact that France discovered that it had a youth of the suburbs, because there were several successive riots”, recalls Audrey Estrougo in HuffPost, in a video interview to see at the top of this article. “And politicians have always used NTM to say: ‘if things are going up in flames, it’s because we listen to a group called Nique Ta Mère’ rather than listening to what they had to say.”
For Sandor Funtek, a 31-year-old actor who lends his features to Bruno Lopes alias Kool Sheen, the two rappers were the first to succeed in “speaking true and fair” about what young people lived in the suburbs, far from the stereotypes brandished by the policies of the time. “They have always had something to say,” adds Audrey Estrougo. “But it’s dramatic because we have always preferred to retain the escapades and the surrounding mess rather than the content.”
Besides this dimension, Supreme Also transcribes the crazy energy of the first concerts of NTM, in the MJC until their first Bercy. But also a more intimate part of their lives, and in particular the complex relationship that Joey Starr has with his father or his addictions. “When we know Didier [Morville], he is built and deconstructed solely around the relationship with his father. It was impossible to ignore it in the film (…) because it is the very unique component of his personality, ”explains the filmmaker.
Joey Starr and Kool Shen’s opinion
And if Théo Christine and Sandor Funtek do not hide that they had “a lot of pressure” to tell the life of the two rappers, now aged 55 and 53, they were able to count on their presence throughout the project. From writing the script to filming, the real members of NTM got involved, agreed to tell their story and even take the two heroes of the film with them in concert on their last tour.
“I won the Palme d’Or when the two said to me: ‘your film is great’. The mountain was crossed. They were moved, touched, recognized each other and above all are proud ”, concludes Audrey Estrougo.
See also on The HuffPost: Telling the life of NTM in a biopic, a “double press” for the actors
This article originally appeared on The HuffPost and has been updated.
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“Suprêmes”, the biopic on NTM, is also a political film