The story: A bomb has inadvertently found itself in a van in District 13. It will blow up "8 kilometres" and wipe out the District unless it is defused. Only two men can get to the bomb: Leito and Damien.

Leito is an ultra-fit, cool as a cumumber, "parkour" expert, and resident of the District, played by David Belle -- real-life inventor of "Le Parkour" (see below) -- who is opposed to the drug dealing in his block run by the gangland master Taha (played by Bibi Naceri). Leito has an initial trust in the law which turns bitterly and violently cynical.

Damien, is an ultra-fit, cool as a cumumber, hand-to-hand combat expert and policeman played by Cyril Raffaelli who in contrast to Leito, believes "The law is for everyone in this country" and "worth fighting for". He especially believes in the French values of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". "Some values are worth defending."

In a way this film could be seen as an attempt to get the people who are disenchanted in the ghettos, to rally behind the idea of "French values", as embodied in policeman Damien and his integrity and commitment to the rule of law.

At the same time, though, it plays to the idea that some in the French state are corrupt and others couldn't care less about the ghetto inhabitants, or want to kill them -- which won't exactly inspire confidence in those people! As the Chief of Police states, "Two million people live in that District of which about 50% deserve our help."

Amusingly, Damien's character attempts to tell us seriously that, "Violence doesn't always solve problems -- there are more democratic ways." He must have been putting the emphasis on the "doesn't always" because after watching this film, one is certainly left with the distinct impression that violence "doesn't always" solve everything but in Leito and Damien's world it certainly solves most things!

David Belle, who plays Leito, is the real-life founder of the running and jumping art of "Le Parkour", the aim of which has been described as moving "from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment -- from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls." Stylistically it is claimed to differ from "Free Running" -- which British people would consider the more popular term for this activity -- in that it is said to be more functional and efficient and less obviously acrobatic and showy in nature.

The degree of physical accomplishment which Belle and Raffaelli demonstrate in this film has to be seen to be believed.

Two amazing jumps, among many which include some quite literal death-defying leaps from rooftops: One by Belle through the top of a small window on the top of a door, and another by Raffaelli -- an utterly astonishing, jaw-dropping, leap and perfect landing into the passenger seat of a car, through the window, feet first! You can play it again and again and still not believe a human being actually managed it! A different, and even more impressive angle can be seen in the "Making of" special feature in the DVD.

The physical skill and achievement of the Frenchmen Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle (left and right), who perform all their stunts themselves, are an absolute invigourating, heart-pounding joy to watch. What you will take away from this film is a deep respect for the physical accomplishment of these two astonishing athletes.

That's why we love this sort of film! It esteems the physicality of the human body. It holds up to our sight, and to our aspirations, the marvellous heights that the human body can scale. It affirms its wonderful potential -- which is entirely contrary to a recent spate of so-called horror films, produced by anti-human mattoids, who criminally use the human body only in their obscene efforts to destroy, literally, its beauty, sacredness and potential -- but that's another article!

In our view, certain action films like District 13 -- understandably objectionable to some for its language and violence -- invigourate, not debilitate, the soul.

What this film also demonstrates is that both Raffaelli and Belle, can rival the very impressive Tony Jaa (Ong Bak and Warrior King) for martial ability and acrobatic skill and the French filmmakers can rival the Thais in this exciting genre. The French stuntmen in the casino fight scene make some amazing falls, which again can rival Thai stuntmen -- although the Europeans will probably never rival the almost suicidal determination of some of the Orientals.

Unlike Britain, France has an extremely progressive attitude to its cinema. It puts a quota on the number of Hollywood films which can be shown. It actively supports French cinema, and on relatively low budgets can produce amazing action films like this, which can be superior to Hollywood. We British must learn from this.

This film is written and produced by Luc Besson who produced The Transporter and Transporter 2 -- if you liked those films, you'll like this one. The box cover and a trailer on Youtube implies that the producers of this film were also the producers of (the very patriotic) Thai film Ong Bak. Nonsense. Besson's company, EuropaCorp, purchased the international selling rights to it outside Asia and re-edited parts of it -- that's all.

The only rubbish thing about this film is the awful French language (c)rap rant which plays over the final credits -- however, the film itself is mercifully free of such noise, with quite a good techno-pulse accompanying the action scenes.

Advisory: Rated 15. DVD is available with choice of English subtitles, or dubbing. Violence: Hand-to-hand, spectacular, sometimes bloody. Gun violence, brutal, sometimes sudden and casual, but not gory. Drug usage: by criminals, although Leito's innocent sister (played by Dany Verissimo) is kept severely doped by the criminals for a large part of the movie. Swearing and language: F-words (or the French equivalent), no C-words, some sexual crudity. No sex, nudity, or sadism. "Don't try this at home" factor: Off the radar!
Also see its website www.thefreerunningmovie.com