Laurent Herbiet's near-perfect film plays out like a post-mortem murder mystery, but perhaps its most engaging moments are spent in the past - filmed in gritty, black and white, evoking newsreel footage from the Algerian War of the late 50s. It is a stunning first film, which manages to both incorporate and shrug off the influence of producers the Dardenne brothers and politically-minded filmmaker Costa-Gavras. This is clearly Herbiet's show, and his confidence with the camera is highly evident here.
As co-writer and producer Costa-Gavras mentioned in his preamble at the 2006 Toronto Int'l Film Festival, this film is less about history than a metaphor for the present. One sees frightening parallels to the recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. Olivier Gourmet gives a riveting performance as the morally flexible titular character, and Robinson Stévenin is convincingly sympathetic as the conflicted apprentice and unwilling accomplice Lt. Rossi.
It's worth seeing, despite a lackluster framing device that betrays the immediacy of scenes set in the past.
As co-writer and producer Costa-Gavras mentioned in his preamble at the 2006 Toronto Int'l Film Festival, this film is less about history than a metaphor for the present. One sees frightening parallels to the recent wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. Olivier Gourmet gives a riveting performance as the morally flexible titular character, and Robinson Stévenin is convincingly sympathetic as the conflicted apprentice and unwilling accomplice Lt. Rossi.
It's worth seeing, despite a lackluster framing device that betrays the immediacy of scenes set in the past.