FEBRUARY 22, 2008 - VOL. 1, ISSUE 3

While shopping at a sidewalk sale in France a group of pickpockets, varying in age and race, come from behind and steal the wallets of unsuspecting customers. The three pickpockets are spotted and the angry shoppers threaten to call the police. It just so happens that the cops are not too far away. Two men come and arrest the thieves, but not surprisingly, the cops are actually fellow criminals pretending to be the law. That is the set up. We see in the next scene that the two men posing as cops have the crap end of the deal as they only receive the licenses and IDs and not the money from the scheme. Voilà! Antiheroes!

Much to the chagrin of our main characters, they continue to work with the group of pickpockets. The next day they go for it again. Once more, the men are caught, but before they can be saved by their partners, the real police show up and arrest them. During the arrest, we see our heroes acting like tourists, hiding behind a giant map. We also see the small beggar boy who we have been trying to ignore throughout the whole scene, grabbing the hand of one of the main characters. Once the excitement of the arrest is over the men decide to head home and lay low for a while, but the young boy follows them. The men try to explain to the boy that he cannot go home with them, but the boy says nothing and continues to follow them. They figure that the boy is deaf and dumb, and decide that he should not have to stay on the street. This is where the cuteness intensifies.

Pickpockets with hearts of gold. After smuggling the young boy into the hotel they are staying in, they feed him and even let him sleep in one of their beds, causing the two grown men to share a tiny single. Aww. The men take care of the boy as if he is their son, and a strange family is started. The two fathers teach their son all the values that they believe are important, stealing. I got a good laugh as the boy fails terribly in their first scheme together causing one of the men to be socked in the nose. Just like a good father, the other main character tries to lighten the boy’s spirit by taking him to a movie. And just like little prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the young boy just so happens to be a pickpocket prodigy himself. While watching the film the boy wanders off, crawls on the floor, and steals several women’s purses and wallets. His fathers are so proud.

Insert fun-loving escape montage here. Happy with their new success and new family they go bowling with the young boy. In a fit of frustration, one of our men gets into an argument with a group of men who bowling a few lanes down. Little does he know that the men are police officers. The three are taken away in the paddy wagon after flashing their fake badges. The story concludes in the police van as our two hopeless antiheroes glance over at the boy. The boy gives them a smile, and opens his hands revealing the handcuff key.

Le Mozart des pickpockets is a cutesy film that changes the dynamic of the traditional family, and everyone loves antiheroes. It is also my pick in this year’s Academy Awards. This is partially by default, because the other films nominated, bored me or just did not make sense. In a better year, it might not win but it definitely deserves its nomination.