Ya stop! (2010)

Directed by: Gustave de Kervern, Sébastien Rost | 11 minutes | comedy, short film | Actors: Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Philippe Duquesne, Augustin Legrand, Yolande Moreau, Stéphanie Pillonca, Rémy Roubakha, David Salles, Fred Testot

Adversity in life is something most people naturally try to avoid. However, in some areas it can have positive effects. This applies not least to Art. The most beautiful paintings and pieces of music originated from a situation of personal drama. Not infrequently, these works are permeated with pain or melancholy. Filmmaker Gustave de Kervern and the main characters in his short cinematic look at the economic crisis, ‘Ya basta!’, don’t give up for a change and give the social unrest a comical twist.

‘Ya basta’ does a lot in a sloppy ten minutes. It is an indictment of the way society (in many countries) treats the weak in society. It is a brotherly story about a group of friends who manage to bring their grand plan to a successful conclusion. And it’s also a surprising, comical variation of old-fashioned heist movies like ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. It is not uncommon for robbers to be portrayed as the heroes in a film and usually as a viewer you really hope they get away with it, but in this case the “gun factor” is very high.

When the main characters – the residents of a shelter for the mentally handicapped – are introduced, and it is made clear through a conversation with a visiting official that the doors of the home must be closed, the situation seems rather hopeless. The games that the residents engage in on the lawns in front of the building also seem to be nothing more than convulsions and symptoms of an underfunded institution. Someone who is angling a bit with the help of a clothes hanger; a participant in a game of softball lying motionless on the floor, with a ball in her outstretched arm: it all makes a somewhat shabby, hopeless impression. But nothing is what it seems, as it turns out later. All those weird games together form a sophisticated training program for the robbery that the residents and their caretakers have devised. It’s very comical to see this merry group suddenly in action and to see the unsuspecting employees of the museum making a fool of themselves. The “weak” of society are the strongest for once and get – ok, take – finally what they deserve. Justice.