The Monopoly Of Violence (2020)

A group of citizens question and confront their views on the social order, and the legitimacy of the use of violent police force. French language, english subtitles. The french title ("Un pays qui se tient sage", lit. "A country behaving gently") is a reference to the sentence "Voilà une classe qui se tient sage" (lit. "Here's a class behaving gently"). This sentence can be heard in a video taken during the arresting of 153 high-school pupils in Mantes-la-Jolie (France) in Dec., 6th, 2018. The arresting followed pupils demonstration and urban violence in the neighborhood of their high-school (Lycée Saint-Exupéry). The police kept the pupils in a courtyard, kneeling, hands on their head, during several hours. On the video, a policeman can be heard saying "Here's a class behaving gently". The video was much commented by French politicians and journalists.