Movies You May Have Missed: District B13

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            I watch this movie at least once a year. Every single time, I am amazed at the stunts that are performed throughout. David Belle is the inventor of Parkour. Parkour mixes martial arts, gymnastics and crazy to be a more efficient form of movement from point A to B. Confusing? Yes. But incredible to see.

District B13 takes place in the not too distant France. Paris has been divided up, walling off the ghettos from the rest of the city. Leïto just wants to live in peace without the worries of the surrounding disruption of drugs and gangs. Damien is an elite undercover police officer. He is put in charge of recruiting Leïto to stop a bomb that has been activated that would take out an entire section of the city.

            While the story is nothing gripping, it does fine to piece together the fantastic action sequences. What makes the action so amazing is that it is real. It’s obvious that there is no wire-work or CGI. These guys are really running, jumping and flipping down the side of a skyscraper.

            This movie’s use of Parkour has influenced films like the Bond flick, Quantum of Solace to incorporate its use to add a level of reality to its action. By the end of the movie, you are either amped up and want to start climbing walls yourself, or tired from watching it all.