Le Havre on Curzon on Demand

Evolutionary biologist Mark Pegal talks about Aki Kaurismäki's new film Le Havre at the Curzon Soho
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Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre
André Wilms as Marrcel and Blondin Miguel as Idrissa in Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre. Photograph: Artificial Eye

12.51pm: A moving account of the friendship between an ageing shoeshine man (André Wilms) and a teenage illegal immigrant (Blondin Miguel) on the run in a French port town, Aki Kaurismäki's new film Le Havre sees the Finnish director tackle the issue of immigration in typically bold and quirky style.

To celebrate the UK release of the film – which launches in cinemas and on Curzon on Demand today – we'll be live-blogging from a special screening at the Curzon Soho tonight from 18:40. Join us to stream the film (via Curzon on Demand) and follow a Q&A between Curzon magazine editor Ian Haydn Smith and one of the world's leading evolutionary biologists, Mark Pagel, who will be discussing the issues raised by Kaurismäki's work.

Our own Peter Bradshaw reviewed Le Havre in G2 Film & Music just this morning. According to him it's a "satisfying and distinctively lovable film", in which "the drollery and deadpan in Kaurismäki's style in no way undermine the emotional force of this tale. They give it a sweetness and an ingeniousness - a Chaplinesque simplicity".

Head over to Curzon on Demand to see if you agree with PB. Then tweet us your opinion using the hashtag #guardiancurzon, get involved in the comments below and join us on the liveblog from 18:40. See you then.

7.14pm: Hi folks. Here we are, down in the arty splendour of the Curzon Soho. There's Bob Marley on the stereo and beautiful people sipping cool beer, engaged in sparklingly witty conversation. It's exactly like being in the Guardian offices. Except for the beer ... honest.

Anyway, we're here to watch Aki Kaurismäki's new film Le Havre, a moving account of an elderly shoeshine man who helps a young illegal immigrant hide out from the police in the titular port town. Get a taster of the film by watching the trailer above, then join us to watch the whole thing by clicking here or on the Watch Now banner below this post. Then send us your review via Twitter using the #GuardianCurzon hastag or get involved in the comments below.

After the screening I'll be liveblogging a Q&A between the Curzon's film magazine editor Ian Haydn Smith and evolutionary biologist and author Mark Pagel. You can post your questions to Mark here too. If you need some inspiration why not check out Peter Bradshaw's 4-star review of Le Havre or Simon Hattenstone's revealing (and boozy) back-and-forth with Kaurismäki, published in G2 earlier this week.

7.34pm: Round-a-bout ... now André Wilms's big-hearted shoe-shiner is having his first run in with the steely Inspector Monet (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). Monet's weakness? Pineapples. Intriguing huh? Almost makes you want to watch-a-long or something ...

7.55pm: We're about halfway through, so let's learn a little about Mark Pegal, the evolutionary biologist who'll be answering questions from the Curzon audience and you at home about the film after the screening.

He's head of evolution laboratory in the Division of Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading, and author of Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation

Mark's theories are based on the idea that it's become genetically advantageous for us human beings to work together and that those who can cooperate will survive and thrive. I'm not sure Le Havre's Marcel Marx (André Wilms) is thinking in such broad terms. He's just left illegal immigrant Idrissa (Blondin Miguel) a packed lunch of a baguette and cheese. Little does he know it, but he's genes are screaming thank you.

Why not join our own cosy hive mind and watch-a-long with us? You'll live longer.

8.25pm: A couple of comments on Le Havre from guardian.co.uk/film users ... pugwash1 calls Le Havre "moving, funny, brilliant", while hairybat goes for a lowkey "Perfect in every way". I don't know hairybat, I could have done with a few more explosions ... Kidding. I'm kidding. There were more than enough explosions.

Anyway, Marcel's attempt to save Idrissa from the immigration officials is coming right down to the wire. Inspector Monet is closing in, Idrissa is desparate to get out of Le Havre and onto a boat to London to reunite with his mum and Marcel has his wife whose fate is in the balance because she's [available to those who are watching along only] and might never [available to those who are watching along only].

8.34pm: The film's wrapping up now. I'll be back in a few minutes to liveblog Ian and Mark's chat ...

8.40pm: Here we go then. Ian is asking Mark how he responded to the film.

"Absolutely charming," says Mark. We can see ourselves in it. We all treat each other as members of our own tribes as Marcel does.

There's a scientific reference in there too says Mark - Laika the dog shares a name with the pooch who has shot into space by the Russians during the space race. Mark believes that it's these little touches that tie this slightly surreal film into the real world that we can relate to.

8.43pm: IHS: Your book is called Wired for Culture. What does culture mean to you?

MP: It's hard to draw a ring around, but it's a shared collection of values, beliefs, interests and ideas. We're outside of our evolutionary past now, but it's a marker of our tribal nature as people that we can extend our society out into cities, countries and the international community.

We began a parallel stream of inheritance in our minds, says Mark. We've been able to adapt at the cultural level. Our cultures have become a vehicle for survival - through learning how to share wisdom and skills. This selects against anti-social behaviour. It's a simple calculus - we throw violent people in jail. And reproduction in jail isn't possible.

IHS: I'm waiting for someone to put their hand up and say "No, no ... that's possible!"

8.48pm: IHS: Why are we all sat here watching this film? Why do we come to communal cultural events?

MP: Our minds are constantly active. We have minds that have been selected to think about our world, because we're the species that are able to adapt the world we live in. I think maybe the audience here probably knew they were going to come here, even before they decided to ... you're looking at me like a nutter, but the conscious mind is simply the tip of the iceberg. Most of the things you're thinking you're not aware of, so maybe you were coming here all along, whether you knew it or not.

8.53pm: MP: It's interesting that this boy comes into the community as an immigrant and people go out of their way to help him. I think that one of the reasons that they're taken with Idrissa is that he speaks French. He's not a Martian - he speaks their language. I found it interesting that when Idrissa is taken on the boat out of Le Havre the French sailors will take him for the price of petrol, whereas the Englishman wants a large fee. That's the power of language right there.

MP: When Marcel goes to look for Idrissa's relatives he finds a society within a society - we're wired to form these tribal boundaries and Idrissa's family have done this within the immigrant community.

It doesn't make sense, but we are this species that does these bizarre things. Why does Marcel raise 3,000 Euros to help Idrissa escape? He's never going to see him again. I think he's buying respect and reputation. This is a fundamental thing about us - we do altruistic things that seem self-evident - like holding doors - but why do we do it? It's to pay the price of admission to be part of society.

You're all doing it now - sitting politely listening. Imagine if the cinema was full of dogs or baboons, it would be a riot ...

A question from the audience: What evidence do we have to suggest that the rest of the animal kingdom don't cooperate too?

MP: Cooperation in the animal kingdom tends to be towards your family. But humans have broken that kin-selection. We'll hold the door open for strangers and get "societal points" for that. We're the only species that will help individuals unrelated to us.

Many people think that we live in large groups by chance. But other animals don't make this error that we're making - of being altruistic and kind. It's an absolutely fundamental part of us. We've managed to open the family and share our wisdom and skills widely. It's why we've gone all the way around the world, but we've adapted and shared cultures.

Another Q from the Curzon audience: Your idea of cooperation troubles me a little. Especially in relation to this film. How do you explain racism or equality? Idrissa is there in Le Havre because of inequality.

MP: Good point. I would answer that our genes have evolved ruthlessly to promote our survival and reproduction and so have our cultures. We shouldn't expect them to be nice to others. Cultures come into competition with each other and someone loses. It's a bumpy road. We know that our history is full of massacres and so on. Some people describe it as full of constant battles.

I think xenophobia is as much a part of our psychology as the urge to cooperate, but our ability to break free of the family and look out widely can help us defeat that. It's hard to feel that way sometimes. Especially when sitting in London in the middle of the riots.

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9.05pm: IHS: You seem quite optimistic at the end of the book ...

MP: Yes. I think the dominant feature of human societies in the near future will be immigration and the movement of poor people into rich societies. It doesn't matter what colour those people are or what language they speak, we have the genetic ability to bring them into our cooperative society. We've discovered that we have the evolutionary tools to adapt to world changing in this way.

Another question from the Curzon: How do you measure where we are and who we are? How can we see how far we're coming?

MP: What we know over the past 10,000 years is that hunter-gatherers have gradually come more and more together to form larger and larger tribes, then there were chieftains, then nation states, then collections of nations. The European Union. The United Nations.

Weirdly, our long term history has been one of coming together in larger, larger groups. But let's remember that the EU came together to stop Germany, so there has been problems along the way. Biologically there's huge benefits in killing your neighbours - you can take their space and raise your offspring - but we've seen more and more pro-social behaviour as we've developed. And society rewards pro-social behaviour accordingly. And it's specific to us. No chimpanzee held a door open for another chimpanzee.

9.13pm: One more question: Your presenting an individualised view of violence, but violence has become part of institutions too. We can work together to be violent ...

MP: We've moved towards centralising our societies - giving power to press and government and so on. We shouldn't be surprised when those governments do things that we find obscene. I don't think that's a contradiction. It's part of us living in these cultures together. At the moment we live in a tribal culture called the United Kingdom and it decides to keep some people in, some people out. Let's not be surprised when it does that. It's part and parcel of what we've developed into.

9.28pm: Right ... the Q&A's finished. The audience in the Curzon are heading for the door. I can see them streaming through into the foyer and ... Yes! ... people are holding the door for each other. Mark's theory seems to be playing out.

Thanks very much for reading and joining the watch-a-long. Le Havre is available on Curzon on Demand here and via the Watch Now banner.

Keep your comments on the film coming below. You can also get into the debate on Twitter where we'll be under the #GuardianCurzon hashtag. Look out for news of another Guardian/Curzon match up in the next few weeks when we'll be streaming a selection of modern world classics, including Kaurismäki's Taste of Cherry, Paolo Sorrentino's The Consequences of Love and other hits including Attenberg and Lou Reed, Berlin.

Thanks, all the best and - like Marcel and Idrissa - take of each other. It's good for your genes.

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