The Specials

The Specials (Hors normes, 2019) is a French dramedy you can watch online on iFILM. It comes from Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, the duo behind The Intouchables, with Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb in the leads.

For twenty years Bruno and Malik have picked up the cases nobody else will touch. Each runs his own small nonprofit, and together they take in severely autistic teenagers turned away by every licensed institution in Paris. To care for these kids, the two men recruit and train young men from rough neighborhoods who never got a fair shot either. Funding is thin, inspectors are circling, and a shutdown is always one bad day away. All Bruno and Malik want is to not give up on a single one of them.

The screenplay grew out of two associations that actually do this work, which is why the cast mixes professionals with real people playing versions of themselves. The film closed the Cannes festival. It refuses easy sentiment, yet lands with unusual warmth. Stream The Specials (2019) online on iFILM.