Page - 41 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

Realistic Humanism | 41www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 33–44 man affair is God’s affair as well, insofar as divine authority does not intervene in the human jungle of violence where individuals can be eliminated like figures in video games. After God’s death, human beings have to find a way to live with- out eternal consolation.20 This is the human condition shared by believers and non-believers. They both see reality with a limited range of vision, analogically speaking through the lens of a body camera and not from the privileged and secure vantage of a God’s eye view. CONCLUSION Samantha’s altruism could be read as an unbelievable modern fairy tale. Cynics may do so, and disregard it. As a philosopher and filmmaker Luc Dardenne suc- ceeds in the twofold task of thinking and showing the possibility of a humanism exposed to destructiveness and the vulnerable face of the other. This face is the only authority that can repeat the commandment “You shall not murder”.21 The fundamental choice of non-violence is the only hope humanity has when it comes to avoiding the abyss of mortal strategies of selfish survival and brutal domination. From The Promise (1996) to La Fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl, BE/FR 2016), the Dardenne brothers have successfully undermined the mainstream film industry and suggested a new look at its ethical foundations. They leave spectators with more questions than answers because the vulnerability of the face of the other does not tell us precisely what to do and which rules to de- velop and to apply. Ethics as a prima philosophia in the Levinasian sense is at a different level from a normative moral philosophy with its obligation to differ- entiate argumentatively. According to Levinas, ethics cannot tell exactly which rules should be applied – with the exception of the most fundamental norm, “You shall not murder”. By making us think about what makes us human, Levi- nas as well as the Dardennes offer a secular version of the sacred.22 According to Arthur Rimbaud, as quoted by Luc Dardenne, “morality is the weakness of the brain”.23 We should begin to learn that morality can become a responsible atti- tude when it is no longer a boring moralizing stance but the freedom to change the logic of domination. In this concrete and secular sense, ethics is open to 20 Dardenne 2012, 9. 21 See Aubenas 2008. 22 For a revisiting of the category of the “sacred” as an ethical equivalent of dignity, see Joas 2013. In Levinasian terms, the notion of sacredness should be differentiated from what he calls holiness. Sanc- tity or holiness is related to personal otherness, whereas sacredness is also used for objects, which do not demand the same unconditional respect we owe to a human being. In the context of ordinary language, both terms are strange because of their religious background. They are certainly helpful as markers of alterity. 23 Dardenne 2012, 140.