“The Amazon Gang”: the incredible but true story of four friends who robbed seven banks

Note : 3/5

Hélène, Katy, Laurence and Carole, close since childhood, are struggling to make ends meet. When the first is asked by CAF to reimburse a huge overpayment, it’s a cold shower. From one day to the next, she will only receive 31 francs per month instead of 3,000 even though she has three children and must pay off her father’s debts. Katy then suggests that the group attack a nearby bank. Their heist taking place without a hitch, it’s the spiral. They will do it again six times, without being caught, but justice will come to their attention…

L’improbable

It was while listening to Fabrice Drouelle’s France Inter show “Affairs Sensitives” that co-writer Vincent Juillet learned of this story. The strength of this improbable team, from working-class backgrounds, is a form of audacity, but also of having benefited from the fact that no one could believe that women could have committed such actions. Katy is the driving force behind it, having already robbed gas stations at sixteen and having spent time in Baumettes prison in Marseille when she was a minor. What pushes her to act is less this experience than a visceral rage against the injustices of society. The financial misadventure experienced by Hélène pushes them to the other side of the law and they all share a desire to escape their painful lives. Laurence is beaten by her partner and works as a cleaning lady. Carole certainly lives in a more comfortable setting, but does not feel comfortable there. Lyna Khoudri (Katy), Izïa Higelin (Hélène), Laura Felpin (Laurence) and Mallory Wanecque (Carole) embody, with intensity, this troop of novice but efficient thieves.

An inspired director

Accustomed to lighter comedies (“Never on the first night” and “Everything smiles on us”), Mélissa Drigeard changes register with inspiration. She finds the right tone to tell this incredible but true story and met the real protagonists, thirty years after the fact. She captures their humanity, but also their excesses. They quickly let themselves be intoxicated by adrenaline and this money falling from the sky instead of managing it prudently. They play petty criminals without awareness of the risks run by those close to them – Katy’s sister becoming a collateral victim, like the others. The film doesn’t just follow them before and during their attacks. We see them having to face the consequences of their crimes and becoming aware of the terror experienced by those who remain traumatized, five years after being their hostages. A humanity which is the strength of this dark film, nuanced and haunted by a form of anger.

Police drama by Mélissa Drigeard, with Lyna Khoudri, Izïa Higelin, Laura Felpin, Mallory Wanecque and Kenza Fortas.