Independent Films, Film Profiles

Yamakasi (film)

Yamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a 2001 French movie written by Luc Besson. It demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of traceurs who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. They use parkour to steal from the rich in order to pay off medical bills for a person injured copying their techniques.Interestingly, the movie's subtitle (translated as "The Samurai of the Modern Age") seems to imply that the word 'yamakasi' is Japanese in origin; it is, in fact, a word from the African Lingala language. (see the Yamakasi article for its etymology)