Abstract:
The film relates to the association called “The Voice of the Fair,” which takes care of mentally or developmentally disabled people, especially adolescents. Bruno Haroche, a French Jew who founded the association, needs to deal with various departments of the French Government as they are trying to shut the organization down.
Details:
Bruno Haroche is a busy man. Due to his position as the director of the association “The Voice of the Fair,” he is occupied with managing the supervisors of his home for people who are “special.” Furthermore, Bruno cares about his patients and spends his days looking after people like Joseph, who loves washing machines and can’t take the train on his own as he pulls the emergency trigger every time he drives. Or adolescents like Valentin, who is autistic and needs to wear a helmet as he wants to hit his head against objects.
The patients, who are living right at the association or at their parent’s houses, are taken out on excursions like skating or horse therapy with supervisors of the association. These supervisors are young people from the districts around the Jewish Association of Bruno. The education on how to deal with the patients is getting supervisors from Bruno’s partner, Malik, who calls the informal school “The ladder.”
Both “The Ladder” and “The Voice of the Fair” are informal organizations with no official permission to take care of the “special kids,” as Bruno calls his patients. Bruno doesn’t want to calm them down with sedatives to guarantee that the patients aren’t a threat to themselves or their families. However, many other hospitals and organizations are practising this, as it is comfortable and cheaper regarding expenses and staff.
Even though Bruno has a working concept, which consists of treating his patients with respect and putting every patient with a personal supervisor at their side, the inspectors of the French Government are trying to sue Bruno and his staff for child abuse since they aren’t formally trained.
After visiting the association and speaking to parents and hospitals where the patients usually come from, the inspectors note the importance of Bruno’s project. His association admits the “hopeless” cases that no other organization wants to receive, giving every patient the chance to live a dignified life. Finally, Bruno can continue his work and improve the quality of his patients’ lives, although his love life suffers from the constant availability for “his kids.”