'The Kid With a Bike' has a test of faith

Cyril, played by Thomas Doret and Samantha, played by Cecile... — Cyril, played by Thomas Doret and Samantha, played by Cecile de France, in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's " The Kid with a Bike." Credit: Sundance Selects/

By RAFER GUZMÁNrafer.guzman@newsday.comMarch 21, 2012

The latest from the Belgian filmmaking brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, "The Kid With a Bike" could be called a faith-based movie, if that term had not become a marketing slogan for films that mainly preach to certain choirs. The Dardenne brothers, raised Catholic, subscribe to no organized religion but make films that are deeply informed by Christianity without being dogmatic or proselytizing. "The Kid With a Bike" is no exception.

It's the story of Cyril (Thomas Doret), an 11-year-old hovering between damnation and salvation. Refusing to believe that his father has abandoned him and sold off his beloved bicycle for a few bucks, Cyril flees his foster home and throws a violent fit in public; a sympathetic onlooker, Samantha (Cécile De France), tracks down that bike and takes Cyril in. Now blessed with a home and a guardian, Cyril falls prey to a local gang leader, Wes (Egon Di Mateo), who sees a promising new recruit.

The Dardennes' quiet, naturalistic style strips this story of melodrama but not of emotion. Doret, making his screen debut as Cyril, is heartbreaking as a bristle-haired, explosively angry boy who turns into a panting puppy around his father (Jérémie Renier, despicable and sympathetic at once), while De France is beautifully understated as a woman whose new burden may be more than she can carry.

This small-scale film raises major questions -- about sin and forgiveness, love and mercy, even free will and determinism -- but it presents its answers as possibilities, not certainties. Unlike most faith-based films, "The Kid With a Bike" believes you can make your own judgments.

PLOT An 11-year-old boy hovers on the edge of a life of crime. RATING (mild language and violence)

CAST Thomas Doret, Cécile de France, Jérémie Renier

LENGTH 1:27