The Patriots

This excellent thriller and character study of a young Israeli spy was produced in 1993-4. It plays as well as any memorable films of the same milieu, e.g. "Three Days of the Condor", "The Company", "Bourne", "Marathon Man", etc. That is pretty lofty company. I refuse to give away the plot but know that for two hours it will take you on a thrilling mystery ride. The casting and directing compliment a terrific script. Shot in Paris, Tel Aviv, Washington, D.C. and New York City it moves along without the gimmicks (CGI) or insane editing and music that so many films depend on today. Finally, the international cast of French, American and Israeli actors are in perfect harmony. Always good to see Alan Garfield in anything..

What so many French movies lack in storytelling, they make up in humor, irony and self-deprecation. This one takes itself seriously, and it really shouldn't. It never found an audience and was an utter commercial failure when it came out in 1994. To this day, the director seems to think "the press" was responsible. Well, no: the reason it failed is that there is no plot, characters and scenes are utter clichés, cinematography is uninspired and even sound design is poor.

It is utterly vulgar in nature, and sexist. A hooker is shown naked during several long shots, but when the male main character gets up from bed after sex, he wears boxers!

It's also long and slow. Actors were apparently told to insert random silences in their dialogue, sometimes between words, to sound deep? But that's not deep, it's dumb.

Utter waste of time.

There are a couple of fine performances here: Yvan Attal is very good as the Mossad agent who must use dirty tactics to achieve political goals yet who falls for a hooker, which does nothing for his esteem with his superiors, and Richard Masur is superb as the Jewish-American scientist (cf Jonathan Pollard) who talks himself into betraying his country because of emotional commitments to Israel. This really ought to be seen by all lovers of John le Carre's works, since it is in the same vein of violence and melancholy.

A hidden gem which in many ways is as good of a depiction of Mossad life as Munich without all the critical acclaim.

Les Patriotes tells the story of a young Jewish Frenchman who decides to emigrate in Israel in order to join the famous Mossad. I don't think the scriptwriters intended to reveal us the truth about the world's most secret service (who can claim to really have solid informations about that?). Yet they wrote an excellent screenplay, worth the best spy movies. Les Patriotes is an exciting description of the daily work of the spies. It is a beautifully-acted movie that doesn't show off and in the same time tells us a lot of things. It is a captivating vision of what a state manipulation is. So, if you have the chance, see it!