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Mon Colonel review
:. Director: Laurent Herbiet
:. Starring: Olivier Gourmet, Robinson Stévenin
:. Running Time: 1:51
:. Year: 2006
:. Country: France
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Co-written by Costa-Gavras (Missing, Amen), Mon Colonel exposes the use of torture against Algerians during the colonial war. The film centers on Lieutenant Rossi (Robinson Stévenin), a lefty idealist who gets manipulated by his colonel (Olivier Gourmet) into running the "intelligence branch", which is nothing less than a school turned into a center for torture.
While obviously condemning torture, Costa-Gavras uses his script to denounce a hypocritical political power that embraced these methods without acknowledging them. The colonel is there to do all the dirty work they signed on but don't want to hear about, one of the targets of this film being the late socialist French president François Mitterand.
But going beyond the historical facts, the screenwriter adds another layer of meaning, making the parallel between what happened in Algeria and what happens today in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay. From the speeches of bringing happiness to locals, to the use of more "civilized" methods of tortures, the writer director denounces the U.S political and military engagement.
The script follows the same structure as Missing, transposing Chile into Algeria, which rather than being a full film entity, makes Mon Colonel a variation on themes - this is understandable when you know that this is actually a TV production that made it to the screen.
While the flashback scenes have a great impact, the investigation sequences set in the present undermine the effectiveness of the picture, especially as Cécile de France isn't very credible as military officer.
While Mon Colonel certainly makes its point, it should be seen as a minor work, an appendix to both Costa-Gavras' filmography and Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers.
Fred Thom
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