Page - 39 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

Realistic Humanism | 39www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 33–44 the spectator’s place before the image, whose distance from the experiences viewed from camera positions of extreme proximity is precisely the creation of a space of responsibility.”17 The camera’s closeness to the characters does not diminish the distance between us and them; it makes the recognition of other- ness possible whenever the spectator is lost in an unbearable reality and is at the same time challenged by an ethical imperative, for we can hardly remain indifferent to what we see. In the corpus of texts we should consult to make the interaction of Luc Dardenne’s two roles as filmmaker and philosopher plausible, one publica- tion gives more weight to the second of these roles: his philosophical essay The Human Affair, published in 2013. The author starts with Nietzsche’s declara- tion of God’s death, which changes our relation to our own death and leaves us alone with our anxiety. From the very beginning of an individual life, we are condemned to death and can respond in two ways to this intimidating expecta- tion: with violent reaction towards all the other mortal beings with whom we struggle for a decent place in life, or with empathy for the humanism of the other, who captures our attention and our responsibility. In the second case, the common destiny of the fragile human condition opens a space of care and consolation, a moral behaviour beyond the destructive battle for egotistic self- preservation. Societies built on fear will always trigger violence and mistrust. A truly human civilisation is only possible within the framework of an education that opens minds to trust and solidarity and thus shows the indestructible core of every person. Such sentences sound like the naive and well-meaning advice of moral- istic idealists in a precarious and destructive world in which only survival counts. This is exactly the point where cinema becomes a serious partner for philosoph- ical reflexion, because films can provide the laboratories for testing the chances of a realistic humanism. EMPATHY FOR The Kid with a Bike Even if Luc Dardenne does not suggest a kind of applied philosophy in his essay, he makes a clear connection with his identity as a filmmaker and screenwriter in the preface of the book. The preface is written as a letter addressed to Maurice Olender, the editor of the series La librairie du XXIe siècle, in which the essay is published. The author writes that his reflections started in the context of the preparations for the film Le gamin au vélo (The Kid with a Bike, FR/BE/IT 2011), which the brothers began to discuss in 2007. The plot is the amazing story of a young boy called Cyril, who was abandoned by Guy, his father, and is looking for 17 Cooper 2007, 85.