Black

Brussels' an underworld love story.

It is a Belgian version of the film adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. But it is modernised and gangsterised crime-drama-romance. Sets in the present Brussels about the two black rivalry gangs, their dispute heats up further after discovering one of the members from each gang has fallen in love. In a result an ultimate gang fight undertakes and what comes after that is we all know it.

This is the most harsh version of the most beautiful romance tale. I meant not violently, though there are many fight sequences, but sexual contents were too strong. If you are a fan of the original work, then you might dislike the film. Because the portrayal of Juliet was so unpleasant which is realistic to the real underworld. But if you are a welcoming type, for the updated classical stories, then you will appreciate the effort. Yet it is more a gangster film than the romance. That's why the title is very simple that does not reveal about the influence of 'Romeo and Juliet', unless you read it somewhere else like the film's synopsis and trivia or the reviews.

Except it sets in the Belgian capital city, the actors, the directors all are not what I expected. I mean it does not give the Dutch/Flemish atmosphere, but like it happens in the middle-east. Since the focus was on the underworld gangs, all the film characters were African immigrants of mostly first and second generation, but the two different regional races, the Moroccans and the black Africans. The first half was not good as I hoped for, but got better after the most waited romance parts were emerged.

"You were born here, but you're still different. You will always be a foreigner."

I did not get the 'Romeo and Juliet' vibe for this film, because it was not actually a revised version, but it roughly borrowed the original plot and nothing much. So you shouldn't anticipate like the story you have known to appear in this film's scenes. From all this,...