Hazel Scott reviews The Kid with a Bike (Le Gamin Au Velo) currently on limited release. My poor little heart is still bruised, bashed and squeezed from all the emotion it was put through watching Dardenne brothers’ The Kid with a Bike . One minute it was stuck in my throat, the next it plunged to the pit of my stomach, before skipping a beat or two as I closed my eyes, unable to deal with the implied menace of what might happen next. Co-director, Luc Dardenne said that he and his brother Jean-Pierre had for some time worked on the idea of a film about, "… a woman who helps a boy emerge from the violence that holds him prisoner." It’s a simple story, told so that we're with our protagonist, 11 year-old Cyril, in just about every scene. It's an emotional journey throughout with the age-old themes of trust and betrayal caged in abandonment, risk, and finding someone who gives a damn. When we’re introduced to Cyril, he's trying to track down his fa
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