There is only one guiding thread in “We,” and that is the route of the RER B train, from the Paris region. Inspired by one of sociologist François Maspéro’s investigations, filmmaker Alice Diop decides to retrace herself the journey from the periphery downtown and vice versa, by observing the strange way in which the train stations reveal an unsuspected human mosaic. Indifferent to rigid ideological programs, the railroad is thus endowed with the power of bringing together all kinds of population segments who now coexist for the duration of a train ride. Diop draws valuable lessons from this and her movie is left to the whims of the moment, going against more conventional approaches which center on a theme they never renounce. There is an undeniable political stake at play here, insofar as the movie allows, for instance, the natural juxtaposition of a Malian immigrant without documents and members of a sectarian hunting club; it’s rather clear whom the filmmaker’s sympathy is directed at, but this is of less importance, since the humanism of this ever curious gaze, always eager to grant the right of presence to the one in front of the camera, goes beyond any hasty categorization. On top of all this, Diop tells her moving family story: one way or another, the entire France passed through the RER B and the director is aware that this radiography of the nation represents, in fact, the gateway to an intimate drama with vertiginous echoes. (Victor Morozov)