Banlieue
In France, a banlieue (French: [bɑ̃ljø]) is a suburb of a large city. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris area live outside the city of Paris. Like the city centre, suburbs may be rich, middle-class or poor—Versailles, Le Vésinet, Maisons-Laffitte and Neuilly-sur-Seine are affluent banlieues of Paris, while Clichy-sous-Bois, Bondy and Corbeil-Essonnes are poor ones. However, since the 1970s, the phrase les banlieues has been increasingly used in European French to describe suburban low-income housing projects (HLMs) in which mainly foreign immigrants and French of foreign descent reside, often in perceived poverty traps.
History
In France, since the establishment of the Third Republic at the beginning of the 1870s, communities beyond the city centre essentially stopped spreading their own boundaries, as a result of the extension of the larger Paris urban agglomeration. The city — which in France corresponds to the concept of the "urban unit" – does not necessarily have a correspondence with a single administrative location, and instead includes other communities that link themselves to the city centre and form the banlieues.
District 13
District B 13 (French title Banlieue 13 or B13), is a 2004 French action film, directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced by Luc Besson. The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of stunt sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects. Because of this, some film critics have drawn comparisons to the popular Thai film Ong-Bak.David Belle, regarded as the founder of parkour, plays Leïto, one of the protagonists in the film.
Plot
In 2010, social problems have overrun the poorer suburbs of Paris; especially Banlieue 13, commonly referred to as B13: a ghetto with a population of some two million. Unable to control B13, the authorities construct a high wall topped by barbed tape around the entire area, forcing the inhabitants within to survive without education, proper utilities or police protection behind the containment wall. Police checkpoints stop anybody going in or out. Three years later, the district has become overrun with gangs. Leïto (David Belle) is a fighter of such gangs. The beginning of the film depicts Leïto washing a case full of drugs down the drain, then escaping the gang who has come to collect the drugs. The gang's leader, Taha, kidnaps Leïto's sister Lola in retaliation; Leïto is able to rescue her and take Taha to the police station, but the police arrest Leïto and let Taha leave with Lola, stating that they're leaving the district.
Podcasts:
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by Maximo Park
Banlieue
by: Maximo ParkMotorcycles do figure eights, on the forecourt by the multiplex.
Phone sex via application, the dull swagger of intimidation.
The rush of cunfusion
Replaced by comprehension
Pixellated punishment
Desire's the only crime
The calmness of the pack
Whose power is in decline
These violent dreams are nothing new
Don't think that she won't leave you
Here come
The animals
Two by Two
Makes my body feel wet through
High-pitched MCs
Digital thrill
The drunks vibrate
The beat seeps through
Wound-down car windows
On the corner of the Banlieue
Here come
The animals
Here come
The animals
Two by Two
Makes my body feel wet through
Here come
The animals
We've been told that we can take it
Everything we ever wanted.
We've been told that we can take it