Now, I understand the hype...

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2012)

Okay, so my first concern why I didn't want to watch The Intouchables was the story itself. Like it was scavenged from a Hollywood studio's thrash can: "A disgustingly rich quadriplegic guy hires a down-on-his- luck young man from the projects to be his personal aid. The cool dude shows the stuck up old man how to have fun and in return the rich guy teaches him about arts, manners and whatnot. Initially they have a few quarrels that mostly derives from the social, racial and age difference (and that the man is actually paralyzed from the neck down) but in the end they grow close and live happily ever after." That really sounds like something Hollywood might cook up. Like Scent of a Woman or Flawless.
But here's the catch: This movie is based on true events. Not in the sense as Titanic for example, where the only historically accurate fact was that "the ship sunk". It really how it happened in real life as depicted in this movie. Philippe Pozzo Di Borgo (the real life billionaire who this movie is about) personally oversaw the making of this movie to make sure it depicted the story of him and Abdel Sellou (his aid) as realistically as possible. Sure, they took a little artistic license here and there, but it's mostly accurate.
The thing about cripples and terminally ill patients is that most people don't know how to handle them. Dr. House said it best in the series, that once people know you have cancer, from then on everything will be about cancer. People will feel obligated to feel sorry for you 24/7. They will be overly attentive, overly helpful to the point of annoying and will be really careful about how they talk to you. They will never ever just be themselves around you. Even if you've accepted your condition a long time ago, and sometimes you just wanna forget your debilitating disease, you'll be reminded every single time by these people who cannot NOT see the cripple or the person with the death sentence when they look at you.
What this movie offers is a unique insight into a relationship that defies this. Driss is brash, brazen and completely disregards the notion of feeling sorry for Phillip. He acknowledges the fact that he is a quadriplegic, and he slowly learns to take care of him, but he seemingly refuses to be the gloomy oh-I'm-so-sorry kind of hypocrite society wants him to be. Instead, he makes fun of Phillip's condition on many occasions making even Phillip himself laugh. He introduces a fresh and invigorating energy into Phillip's life, which makes him see the world in a new light. Instead of wallowing in the sad and painful past, he starts to look to the future, take chances and make the best of what he can of what he still has.
All in all, The Intouchables was a really positive surprise. It's not a perfect movie but it's a perfect story.