A great film!

Rating: 9/10 (4 June 2012)

After having broken box office records in its native France and across Europe, The Intouchables is brought to American screens.
It's a story about a white man and a black man. The white man is rich and paralyzed from the neck down; the black man is an ex-con from the projects. The former needs a caretaker; the latter needs someone to turn his job application down, so he'll be eligible for unemployment benefits. They meet. They clash. And, against all odds, they become friends.
That's the plot of The Intouchables (based on a true story), and that storyline has prompted many American critics to label the film "racist." Maybe it's coming from a misunderstanding of some journalists, or from a cultural difference between USA and France, but race is absolutely not the subject.
Indeed, the French title Intouchables which translates literally as untouchable, refers to the 5th Indian caste, these people ostracized by society, as the two characters. Philippe is rich but quadriplegic from a paragliding accident. Opposite, Driss is full of life, but he is poor and comes from the suburbs. His disability is purely social. Using humor to explore the sensitive topics of class inequality, and quality of life for handicapped individuals is a tall order for filmmakers of any country. However, directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano accomplished all of this.
An irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human possibility, The Intouchables depicts an unlikely camaraderie rooted in honesty and humor between two individuals who, on the surface, would seem to have nothing in common. A great film!