The scene in the club, when Jacky said this threw me off a little. This guy is all screwed up, yet he chooses to use that term about another person. That being said, I thought the film greatly portrayed the result of childhood trauma, untreated.
shareYeah that had shock value in it. But just because we emphasize with the guy doesn't mean he's some angel or has social skills. He later says in the movie how all he knew were animals/cattle. So I don't even know if he was trying to sound rude bc he was feeling jealous and was drunk, or because he genuinely thinks that's a normal term from being in such a small circle of people not leaving the farm much, or if he's really racist.
What do you mean? What is the word that has been censored in the title?
I will now end this debate with you.
He refers to the club owner as a *beep* (or the Belgian equivalent) but I don't thin it has any significance other than to show Jacky's possibly naive and sheltered upbringing - it s not really said with malice - just clumsiness.
share Yes, exactly that: not malice, just clumsiness. Touchayfrancay gives a bit more info at the bottom of this page.
Jacky says "le nègre?"and the subtitles translate it as "the ni&&er?". I say that's an exaggeration on the part of the translators; they could have just done a literal, mot à mot translation - "the black?" - or maybe "the negro?", either of which would have managed to get across his social clumsiness without bringing up unnecessary questions as to the character's possible racism.
We say "black guy."
"I can assure you my intentions are strictly honorable."
I grew up in Flanders, and the term "neger" is widely used to refer to black people. My mother tongue is French so the first time I heard someone call one of my black friends "neger" it threw me off but my friend told me that it doesn't have a racist connotation so it's cool by him. It's starting to change though, people are starting to understand that this term can cause incomprehension.
"Neger" translated in French is "nègre", and when used in French it certainly does have an insulting tone to it, but not in Flemish.
Hope this clears things up.
I agree with others in this thread.
The word that Jacky used (le nègre) is not an equivalent of the N-word in the English language.
I interpreted it more as follows : Jacky is a simple flemish peasant who tries to say something in another language (french) and clumsily uses the wrong word (a litteral translation from flemish to french, where french speakers use another word)...it's awkward, but not necessarily racist or with bad intention.
Correct - 'the n-word' is always pejorative and almost always used to cause offence, whereas 'neg_ro' is simply an outmoded and now extremely impolite term, in the same way 'coloured' is. Yes, this was written to illustrate the fact that Jacky was a simple country boy rather than a racist.
Fabulous movie. Really, really worth watching - but don't expect it to be action-packed; this is thoughtful European drama...
Indeed, funny fact is that here in the Netherlands they be rather called "zwarte" wich is translated Blackie then "neger" wich is negro. personely i find that sound even more degrating , same as calling a midget a little person.
shareHe's a Belgian farmer, brought up by a homophobic mother, who injects steroids made for cattle into his ass. Something tells me that using a racial epithet would be the least of his worries.
share