Pierre Schoendoerffer would have loved this film, I am sure of this. Or at least, this would have been a topic for him. As far as I know, no one except him has talked about french war in Indochina better than him. OK, there was also Claude Bernard Aubert, but in a lesser scale.
The events told here have actually occurred. The tale of an idealistic young soldier who finally fought with the Vietminh against his own initial brothers of arms. Young soldier who became a sort of traitor. This movie is played by nearly unknown actors, and the characterization is very effective, outstanding.
There is a terrific scene in this feature: the one when a young soldier asks his officer the permission to kill a prisoner, ONLY because he had not killed anyone yet in his life. And he wanted to taste it, get the true feeling to kill, to execute, like wasting a dog. An absolute ordinary young soldier like you and me. Not the natural the born killer that you might expect in such a film. A Young trooper with the school teacher face with his little glasses.
Terrific, because so realistic. The true horror of war. No heroism here.
The very ending is rather abrupt, maybe too much.
But Eric Zonca gives here his best work ever.
The events told here have actually occurred. The tale of an idealistic young soldier who finally fought with the Vietminh against his own initial brothers of arms. Young soldier who became a sort of traitor. This movie is played by nearly unknown actors, and the characterization is very effective, outstanding.
There is a terrific scene in this feature: the one when a young soldier asks his officer the permission to kill a prisoner, ONLY because he had not killed anyone yet in his life. And he wanted to taste it, get the true feeling to kill, to execute, like wasting a dog. An absolute ordinary young soldier like you and me. Not the natural the born killer that you might expect in such a film. A Young trooper with the school teacher face with his little glasses.
Terrific, because so realistic. The true horror of war. No heroism here.
The very ending is rather abrupt, maybe too much.
But Eric Zonca gives here his best work ever.