The White Knights (2015) User Reviews

Stolen children

[searchanddestroy-1 · 23 January 2016]

Inspired from actual events that occurred eight years ago, this is a very unusual story. The tale of a No Government Organization - and also a non authorized one - who took orphans from their lost villages in the deep sub Sahara Africa. They took those orphans - or supposed to be - in order to bring them to France, in a total illegal way, so that those under five kids can find foster families. So, you see, you have here a really ambivalent atmosphere and characters too. Vincent Lindon gives here, one more time, a terrific performance as the leader of this surprising group, that fits him very well. Only him could have do this, or maybe Olivier Gourmet... We can consider this as an adventure film, so rare in the French industry since the fifties or early sixties. Watch out for the ending...

First world arrogance

[Tarracone · 3/10 · 21 January 2021]

I do not know what this movie was trying to say or whether it was just a recounting of true events but it certainly would be a must see example of how not to go about dealing with a poverty and war stricken people. Vincent Lindon goes wandering about treating both his staff and the people he is trying to obtain orphans from with anger, shouting and physical confrontation like some little Hitler. From the bribing of tribal chiefs to the forced identification of children as orphans under 5 for the sake of the French foster parents in a land where no paperwork exists, the viewer is left with an increasing sense of horror which is only assuaged by the dignity of the local translator who has to translate this moron's rants. One cannot feel for the other characters as they fall into line with this idiot and the whole concept of an illegal kidnap of children. The people who do shine are the local chiefs who in a kind way treat this white man with quiet disdain using him for their own gain in a war torn country where the edicts and whims of continental France don't apply. Thankfully the movie's end shows some justice in the world to the relief of the viewer.