Reviewed by Cassam Looch
Stars Benoît Magimel, Albert Dupontel, Aurélien Recoing, Marc Barbé,
Eric Savin, Mohamed Fellag | Written by Patrick Rotman & Florent Emilio Siri
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 110 minutes | Directed by Florent Emilio Siri
Anti-war movies may be traditional fare for filmmakers, but the unfamiliar setting and involving performances from the leads make Intimate Enemies a thoroughly entertaining experience. Battle of Algiers is rightly held up as the masterpiece covering this battle, but the urban warfare of that film is very different to the sparse and desolate locations of Intimate Enemies.
It's 1959, at a remote outpost in an isolated corner of Algeria. A small platoon of French soldiers, having already seen action for many years, is introduced to talented and idealistic Lieutenant (Magimel). Horrified by some of the torture used by his men, he immediately finds himself at loggerheads with battle-hardened sergeant (Dupontel), who although like-minded, has seen enough savagery to know the lieutenant will fail. The battle against the "insurgents" is fought using local Arabs as guides, whose intentions are constantly questioned. As the weeks and months pass, we see the gradual descent of the new recruit with others around him struggling to fight off the determined locals.
The film opens with a breath-taking assault which ironically turns out to be the most futile in the entire film. As if to emphasise the relevance of the past in modern-day warfare the "friendly-fire" incident results in the death that brings Magimel’s character to the platoon. The battle scenes are as violent or visceral as one would expect, and are brought at regular intervals. The "cut-scenes" where we meet the rogue's gallery of soldiers are also well done and offer insight to the well-performed if not original characters. The problem here, though, is that the film falls into an episodic structure where each moment of action is followed by analysis and dissection. This results in a balanced and thoughtful experience, but also a frustrating one.
The performances are uniformly excellent, with a believable but poignant respect between the two opposing "leaders". The film never short-changes these characters in terms of giving us insight and resolution to their personal conflicts, and even if it does feel a little earnest it is still a great genre film. The French may now be ready to acknowledge their mistakes like the Americans have done in Vietnam, and one wonders how long we have to wait for the first great movie to be made about current conflicts.
EXTRAS *** An audio commentary, a making-of featurette, an interview with the film crew, a featurette called From the Story-Board to the Movie, a documentary about Patrick Rotman, and a photo gallery.