Regardless of how sophisticated the characters are, the film itself is very sophisticated and Kassovitz chose to have them say "Le Pen" rather than "Hitler." Whatever their educational shortcomings, it's significant that they taunt skinheads by saying "Down with Le Pen." It's a consciously chosen signifier, and the subtitler ignored its relevance to the overall plot of the film.Doctor Sunshine wrote:A point on the subtitles, this is a director-approved edition so he will have been aware of the changes. That said, I'm not totally on board with the them but, really, these are not sophisticated kids, they weren't trying to make any political statement with Le Pen, they were just trying to get a rise out of the skinheads, any name would do. And down with Le Pen has less snap than fuck Hitler, even if they're both pretty generic jeers.
Happily, Le Pen came in fourth yesterday, so he won't be in the second round of the presidential election this time. However, when he finished second in the 2002 election, there was quite a bit of protesting. Le Pen is a highly polarizing figure in France, no matter your level of education or economic status.