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Siri has gone for a slick shooting style that makes liberal use of jump-cuts, and the images are drained of colour to reflect the scorching suffocating dryness of the desert, both of which give the film a distinctive tone, especially in the nerve-racking fire-fight sequences.īut its cycle of raids and the ensuing despair begins to feel repetitive.

Unfolding over a series of raids, the film essentially observes Terrien as he is stripped of his humanity. He cracks open the clay water jars to expose the rifles hidden therein. An innocent donkey caravan is shot-up, women are killed, Terrien screams bloody murder, but then Dougnac lifts the chadors of the corpses to reveal men in combat boots. Terrien's efforts to take the high road are rebuffed by Dougnac at every turn, and he is underminedby his lack of experience and his refusal to look the other way when a prisoner is tortured for information.ĭirector Florent Siri and screenwriter Patrick Rotman smartly force the audience to experience the war through Terrien's eyes. He instantly clashes with the battle-hardened Sergeant Dougnac (Dupontel), whom experience has taught to choose the lesser of evils rather than risk the lives of his men. Terrien (Magimel), whose striking good looks are matched by a strong moral code. It is the first of many acts of hypocrisy.

True to form, his incompetence is rewarded with a posthumous Legion d'Honour. The commanding officer who screwed up has paid for his mistake with his life. A French patrol mistakes another for the enemy. The film opens with a friendly-fire incident. Less than ten years after French and Algerian soldiers fought together against the Nazis, they were fighting each other, hence the intimacy referred to in the title.

To say Algeria was France 's Vietnam is an understatement (as well as an irony, given France 's role in Vietnam before the US engagement there). Internationally, the trick will be in convincing diverse audiences to engage withthe historical incident. Two million French conscripts served in Algeria, which makes for a large collective consciousness. Retrospection over past wrongs is a hot topic in the movies, as are insurgency and counter-insurgency. Featuring strong lead performances from the handsome Benoit Magimel and the rugged Albert Dupontel, it pulls no punches in its depiction of the gruesome nature of guerilla warfare and the ensuing decay of morality. 108 min.Ī gritty and realistic depiction of a French platoon during the final stages of Algeria 's war of independence, Intimate Enemies is an assured and well-crafted drama that is sure to cause a stir in its native France.

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