The real story behind the movie “The Untouchables”

Often, we focus on things we miss, not appreciating what we already have. We often live life focusing on our failures and barriers that prevent us from becoming the best version of ourselves, postponing our happiness because of the disappointment of not being what we would like. But on some occasions, when we dare to let go of our prejudices and listen to our heart, people may appear who, regardless of race, social class or age, are capable of awakening, with great affection, our virtues and highlighting how much we are. valuable to the world.

If you still don’t believe it, the awesome.club presents the stories of Count Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Yasmin Sellou, two men who felt incapable of getting on with life, but who cultivated a friendship capable of overcoming social class barriers. Not only did they change lives, they inspired the movie The Untouchables.

Philippe Pozzo di Borgo is a French count, businessman and owner of a renowned hotel. The son of a duke, he was raised in a wealthy family, with all the luxuries and comforts that allowed him to study, marry and get great jobs, such as manager at Casa Moët & Chandon. With a promising future, Philippe’s life was enviable, but in 1993 he had a paragliding accident that left him a quadriplegic.

Unable to move again on his own and with his wife, who was sick with cancer at the time, Philippe fell into a state of depression that made him unsuccessfully try to take his own life. For him, the sadness “was unbearable, since until then, he had everything under control and, suddenly, he started to depend on others, especially a wife who was sick”. However, these days, he rejoices in the fact that he failed to do what he tried. “It relieves me not to have been able to take my life 19 years ago, because I enjoyed the 19 years that came later.”

Abdel was the kind of guy people would think twice, or maybe even three times, before hiring. He spent his humble childhood alongside eight siblings, developing an impulsive personality and a temper. At the age of 10, he had to move to Paris with relatives who could take care of him. At 16, Abdel was expelled from school after robbing his classmates. Far from correcting himself, at the age of 18, he was arrested for the first time, on account of theft of tourist cameras. With such reprehensible attitudes at such a young age, Abdel’s future was not very promising. However, if there was one thing that made a young man a special person, it was his charisma: with him, the boy captivated and was well-regarded from the very first moment.

While serving a sentence of one and a half years in prison, the young man was given the chance to reduce his sentence and leave within ten months if he returned to good social life by attending mechanics courses. Unfortunately, Abdel realized that mechanics wasn’t his passion, and he found himself needing to find a job quickly, whatever it was, as long as it kept him from going back to jail. And so, he ended up applying for a job as a caretaker for a wealthy, quadriplegic aristocrat, as well as his ailing wife. That job would change his life.

After reading about Philippe’s well-to-do family and his conscientious upbringing, you might wonder, “How could someone so refined hire someone like Abdel, who stole even from his schoolmates?” To begin with, throughout his professional life, Philippe had conducted numerous job interviews, and he saw in Abdel an employee with potential that went beyond his bad boy appearance: “He was fast, smart and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week; he was able to act without hesitation, to take the initiative and he was always ready to drive fast and without a driver’s license”, stated Philippe when justifying his decision.

Philippe was immobilized, and his wife was in the last months of her life (she would die some time later), and he hired Abdel even though he knew that his new caregiver did not want to work for him, nor to stay in that job for a long time, he only accepted to avoid going back to prison, not to mention that “the safe in that mansion seemed easy to open”. Faced with this scenario, all the people around the count tried to make him change his mind, but he remained firm in his decision. “He was the one I needed. I didn’t care at all that he got out of prison. I needed him. And then he became a friend.”

By having a caregiver like Abdel, with his good humor, spontaneity and humble origins that led him to act in a completely different way from the one indicated by the etiquette he was used to, Philippe, little by little, got rid of the depression that had hit him for years. before. “He treated me as I needed to be treated,” the Count said as he recalled those years. Abdel, with his unorthodox way of caring, was able to go for a run with Philippe and hang on to his wheelchair; of creating adrenaline-pumping situations when driving over the speed limits and, with Philippe as a co-driver, incredibly mind-blowing moments that filled the nobleman’s life at a time when he feared succumbing to monotony.

Philippe turned a “merchant’s ear” to the negative comments made by people close to him, who saw a rude and reckless individual like Abdel taking care of and exposing a human being in a state of quadriplegia to risks. The rich man refused to fire the employee. In fact, Abdel was no longer seen as an employee, but as a friend, and that was precisely what Philippe liked best: Abdel didn’t see him as a patient that people should feel sorry for. “I needed to get back to normalcy. And pity is the last thing you need. There is no remedy for pity. Pity is something people feel because they are afraid to take care of you,” he considered. Just as Abdel ignored his friend’s physical condition, Philippe paid little attention to the clear social and upbringing differences that separated them. For him, the presence of that caregiver was like a “kiss of life”. For Abdel, working there was a chance to get his life back on track and discover his full potential. “Probably, if I hadn’t met Philippe, I would have been dead or in jail.”

Before we became friends, “we were two desperate people looking for an escape; the rich man with grief over his wife’s death and the young man just out of prison who wanted to reinvent everything. Two people on the fringes of society who supported each other”, reflected Abdel. And after ten years of mutual company and learning, in 2003 the paths of both parted ways during a trip to Morocco, country where they met their respective companions: “Abdel and I ended our collaboration when we found our soulmates”, explained Philippe, affirming although that time spent with his friend, like a story that unfolds in the best way, ended “without sadness or difficulties”.

Philippe married a Muslim woman and ended up moving to his wife’s home country with the intention of starting a family with her. Meanwhile, Abdel also got married at about the same time and currently runs a farm in Algeria. He has three children who see Philippe as an uncle: “Before, I wouldn’t even have considered the idea of ​​settling down,” said Abdel. “I was interested in women as if they were dishes in a fast-food restaurant. Now, I’m stable, focused on my new life.” After that friendship that changed their lives, they wrote books telling their story, each with their own perspective. Abdel wrote You Changed My Life, while Philippe produced The Second Sigh, the work that inspired the film based on the lives of the two men.

These days, Abdel travels to Morocco from time to time to visit his friend Philippe, and when they don’t meet in person, Philippe calls to have the comrade tell him about his wild adventures and experiences. Both prove that even the richest of people, as well as the humblest, can face serious obstacles. But just as problems are classless, friendship and affection have the potential to show us that there is always a hand willing to help us get out of our comfort zone and overcome ourselves.

What aspect of this story caught your attention the most? Leave a comment remembering the most important friendship you’ve ever had in your life and telling if you know stories as inspiring as Philippe and Abdel.