Original subtitles

Hey, you!

Yeah, you. Come here.

At ease.

Get in.

Carry on, gentlemen.

Choose.

Choose.

Choose.

I'm not afraid to die!

I'm not afraid to die!

Massue.

Covered.

You, help me.

"Our recovery continues."

What is that?

"National unity is restored."

Hey, movie!

Turn the sound down!

"Still ahead of France..."

Test reels for tonight's screening.

Choose.

"...the one about Algeria."

Because to solve the Algerian question,

it's not enough to restore order,

and give people the right to self-determination.

We must address a human problem.

The fate of the Algerians belongs to the Algerians.

Please! Have mercy! I'll talk!

Shut your mouth, Walid!

Die like a man!

Die like a man!

You talk or you die?

I'll talk!

You're gonna tell everything?

Everything?

Traitor!

Dirty traitor!

Everything will be done

so that the Algerian people

have a voice in peace.

The decision

will be theirs alone.

But I'm sure,

for my part, that it will...

Get down!

Mourad?

Walid?

You okay?

We're good!

Stay outside!

We're saved, brother.

Mourad!

We're saved.

Yeah...

We're saved.

Did you beg the French?

Never in my life.

I would've told them anything.

Listen.

You die but you don't talk.

You hear me?

You hear me?

You die but you don't talk.

Goes without saying, Mourad.

Goes without saying.

Goes without saying?

Goes without saying.

Where's Walid?

- No more Walid. - What do you mean?

That's enough.

And the French, are they all dead?

I left one for you.

Here he is.

Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Die.

Easy now.

We don't believe you.

Who cares!

Nobody's innocent.

Not even your kids.

It's simple. I ask a question,

you answer!

Not even your kids.

We'll gouge out one of your kids' eyes.

Understand?

You wanna play stupid with us?

Is that what you want?

Hello?

Soua Ly-Yang.

It's Madame Delignières.

Mother of Colonel Simon Delignières.

Good evening, ma'am. Colonel Breitner is in bed.

I can imagine.

Tell Colonel Breitner I'll be at his house tomorrow morning.

- Yes, ma'am. - Perfect.

Open the door.

Do what I say.

Open that door.

Open that door!

Why don't you open it yourself?

Go on.

Colonel Breitner.

Go get your keys.

Soua.

Give me the right key.

Good morning, Colonel. Thank you for seeing me.

Your son may also have been taken prisoner.

Senior officers make good bargaining chips.

I don't see why the rebels would want to kill him.

My son is dead, Colonel Breitner.

A mother can sense these things.

Several strategic positions for our army

have been attacked in recent weeks.

And given the boldness

and effectiveness of the raids,

the rebels were very well informed.

My son had access to

this confidential information.

To me,

he was tortured.

And he talked.

The location of the rebel camp is shown on these maps.

If the army located it, why not strike?

De Gaulle is going to hand Algeria back to the Algerians.

Why risk more French lives?

However,

since the crimes of these barbarians must not go unpunished,

in less than six days,

napalm will have burned everything.

Only ashes will remain.

And of course,

not a trace of my son's remains.

I want you to go to the Aurès-Nementcha

and find the body

of Colonel Simon Delignières.

No, I'm not asking you to bring his corpse all the way here.

Leave it in Algeria.

Instead,

bring me back something that belonged to him.

Anything

I can put in his coffin.

I'm done with the war,

ma'am.

You became French through the blood you shed, Colonel Breitner.

But Soua Ly-Yang

has a residence permit

that was granted to her

thanks to the Delignières family's connections.

And...

I assume

you don't want her expelled from the territory.

Because...

you know

what the Vietnamese will do to her as soon as she sets foot on their soil.

Soua Ly-Yang is Hmong.

Like her people, she fought for France.

Her father and brother died for us at Diên Biên Phu.

Instead of thanking them,

this country abandoned them.

Colonel Breitner,

you haven't been French for very long.

So,

let me clarify two small things

about your new compatriots.

They have a habit of lying low during the Occupation.

And of shaving women's heads at the Liberation.

And after that,

after...

they drink.

And they forget.

I've chartered a plane that will take you to Algiers tomorrow.

Don't come back empty-handed.

Here are your passes for the territory.

And for the Arab?

A commando is on his trail.

His capture is only a matter of hours.

Dear madam, sir...

I have...

the immense

sadness...

Come in.

My respects, General.

Dismissed, soldier.

General?

Are you serious?

Brigadier General.

But a general nonetheless.

Beer or soda?

Soda.

I don't know why you accepted this mission.

You should've stayed out of it.

The brown mess is worse than the slant-eyed mess.

Worse than Indochina?

How is that possible?

It's possible because it's become just as easy to shoot

as not to shoot.

Is it easier to pull the trigger with an Arab in front of you?

What wouldn't we do for our country?

That's quite a welcome from a soldier who killed his officer.

May I ask why?

You know, Colonel. You must have read my file.

So tell me,

was it worth it?

My captain shouldn't have ordered me to kill the children.

I asked you a question.

Was it worth it?

No.

They killed the children anyway.

They forced me to watch and bury them with their parents.

What's your decision,

Sergeant Major?

You coming with me on a mission

or waiting for your execution?

If I come with you,

will I have to kill children?

Not under my command.

Private Martillat!

Dismissed.

Of course I'm volunteering.

Anything rather than hauling shit.

Your father

died a hero in Indochina.

You're an only son, you could've stayed to support your mother.

Mom...

I enlisted to do better than my father.

Do better?

At what?

Come back a hero, but alive.

There you'll have a better chance of coming back dead.

And then?

Nothing.

One more thing.

If during the mission you dare disobey even one of my orders,

you won't live to finish your sentence.

I'll kill you on the spot.

Attention for the colors!

Raise it!

♪ Military bugle call

Come on, sing!

ALLONS ENFANTS DE LA PATRIE

LE JOUR DE GLOIRE EST ARRIVÉ

Shut your mouth and lower your head!

CONTRE NOUS DE LA TYRANNIE

L'ÉTENDARD SANGLANT EST LEVÉ

L'ÉTENDARD SANGLANT EST LEVÉ

ENTENDEZ-VOUS DANS LES CAMPAGNES

MUGIR CES FÉROCES SOLDATS ?

ILS VIENNENT JUSQUE DANS VOS BRAS

ÉGORGER VOS FILS, VOS COMPAGNES !

Lieutenant Terrail?

Yes.

FORMEZ VOS BATTAILLONS

MARCHONS, MARCHONS

What happened

to that Arab over there?

Attempted escape?

Worse.

Refused to join the choir.

Your package is over there.

Handcuffed to the truck.

Assia Bent Aouda?

What do you want, French soldier?

You and your father were explosives specialists?

My father was the specialist.

He taught me everything about bombs.

Thanks to his lessons, I killed a great many Frenchmen.

I need you.

For a mission.

Who do you take me for?

A whore in the service of the French?

Tell me, is that your mother?

Your father and you

went to great lengths to make people believe he was dead.

You fooled our army,

but not our secret services.

They found your mother in Tunis.

Here's the deal:

you come with me and your mother lives.

You refuse,

the paratroopers will cut off her head

and we'll deliver it to you in your cell.

She'll keep you company until the end of the war.

What's your decision?

Sergeant Ben Brahim,

prepare to translate.

Yes, sir, Lieutenant.

Gentlemen,

I am very disappointed.

As much by your lack of enthusiasm for singing our national anthem

as by your poor talents as choir singers.

Moreover,

I saw one of you spit while the flag was being raised.

And that

is unacceptable.

As a result,

I find myself obliged to disregard the Geneva Conventions

concerning the treatment of prisoners of war.

Did they understand?

Martillat!

I need you.

Senghor, back up the jeep.

Come on.

Time to undo what you've done.

Don't defuse them, mark their positions.

With this.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Wouldn't it have been simpler with a metal detector?

Aouda and her father's specialty was porcelain mines.

They'd take a vase or a pot,

fill it with broken glass and TNT, and bury it.

A metal detector would've been useless.

Four.

Five.

No, stop.

Stay away from 6, my daughter.

Step on 7. It brings good luck.

May God protect you, my beloved daughter.

Thank you, Dad.

May God protect you.

Colonel, why are we stopping?

"No need to shoot, they're too far away...

"...now.

"Let's...

"Let's go look for

"Our ho...

"Our horseses...

"Horses.

"The hypo..." Oh...

"The hypothesis..."

May I have the binoculars, Colonel?

My last reflex will be to pull the trigger.

The fellagha will be alerted

and you'll have lost a trusted soldier.

Wait for my signal to fire.

"Which could be..." Oh, shit!

A village, four men.

Looters. We charge and kill them.

Soldiers! Soldiers!

- What are you doing, Martillat? - I'm out of ammo.

You could've finished him off with the gun on your belt.

Shit!

Do you know what mercy is, Martillat?

Mercy?

Yes, Colonel, I know what it is.

When I signed up, they didn't tell me I was supposed to feel pity.

They told me I was coming to kill ragheads.

And nothing but ragheads.

Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid, children.

It's a French soldier.

No reason to be afraid.

Come with me.

Come on.

Come on, move forward.

Come on.

I'm not dead.

Not yet...

How can you kill children?

It's easy, nigger.

They're not mine.

Got that, nigger?

They're not mine!

They're not yours?

They're not yours?

How are you?

You finished?

I don't understand, these people are their own,

why are they doing this to them?

Colonel.

It wasn't Algerians who did this.

From my jeep, they didn't look French.

There's an abandoned property over there

that will serve as our bivouac for the night.

And after?

After that, we walk.

You plan to do the rest of the way on foot?

We have no choice.

The fellagha have their camp in a gorge.

With the echo, the jeeps would be heard too easily.

And her, what do you plan to do with her afterwards?

She's a prisoner of war. I'll hand her over to the authorities.

If she survives, at least she'll be able to find her mother.

I'd be surprised. Her mother is dead.

The paratroopers who spotted her in Tunisia made her talk

and they went too far.

You promised her.

Promised?

She's the enemy.

- You promised her! - She's the enemy.

Not my family.

What does it say?

"French soldier,

"loving your army

"is denying your mother.

"Go back to your country to find her.

"Leave Algeria to the Algerians.

"FLN will win."

Filthy race!

Fuck them.

Aren't you going to check if she's booby-trapped?

Yeah, I was about to, yes.

What's your name?

Chahida.

Chahida.

What happened here?

Tell me.

You need to eat.

Tomorrow we walk.

And how am I supposed to do that?

Actually,

you're like the Harkis.

What's a Harki?

Scum who betrayed their country

to become the dog of the French colonizer.

Was your father a Harki too?

My father was a soldier and a mujahid.

Your father was a French soldier

during the war against the Germans.

He even gave a leg for that war.

And he received a medal from France.

What are you trying to tell me?

The French made your life hell.

The Germans never did.

Why did your father fight for the French?

My father did what he believed was right.

And I don't serve the French soldier.

I'm not his Vietnamese maid.

I'm not Vietnamese.

I'm Hmong.

We're a mountain people.

The Vietnamese and the Chinese don't like us.

We've always fought them.

What did you gain with the French?

Nothing.

In the end, they abandoned us.

But Breitner never did.

Breitner is there for me,

and I'm here for him.

Just like me

with my mother.

Eat.

What's wrong, Mourad?

I need to talk to you.

Sit down and talk.

Who's that in the photo?

My father.

Volunteered for the First World War.

In the 1st regiment of Senegalese tirailleurs.

Let me see.

Your father has the Croix de Guerre and the Croix de Verdun?

It's clear he did his job.

My father is a very brave man.

My father was very brave too.

And we gave his medal to my mother

the day we buried him.

Yours is alive, that's not bad.

Do you think our fathers would be proud of us?

Honestly, I don't think so.

Too much innocent blood has been spilled.

The Arabs will never forget it.

A lot of French blood has been spilled too.

With us, no one will ever forget.

The only thing that will never die is this war.

Do you understand? Answer!

Mohamed!

What are you doing?

I need to go in the water for my feet.

They hurt.

You'll rest when we get there.

Stay there if you want.

But you'll only be able to count on God

to get you back to camp.

Those are the children we saved.

Two sentries, one silencer.

I can take one down, but the other will raise the alarm.

We'd need to kill both targets at the same time.

Do you have a plan for that?

Shh, shh!

Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Do you recognize me?

No one's going to hurt you.

But...

you mustn't scream.

No noise.

Understand?

Understand?

You can remove your hand.

I need the girl.

As bait.

We have no choice.

Why, Colonel?

Tomorrow the air force will fly over the region to drop special canisters.

Napalm?

- I don't like it. - You don't like what?

That we use a little girl to finish the mission?

Or that we let the napalm burn the others?

Yasmine?

Ali?

Asma?

Are you the one who stopped at the river?

You can thank God for showing you the way.

I didn't see you in my village.

Nasser.

Nasser.

Mercy? You say!

French soldiers!

You're surrounded!

Come out with your hands high.

Or the next grenades won't just make smoke.

Mourad!

Is that you?

What are you playing at, Aouda?

Who's the dirty whore calling me by my first name?

It's Mourad Boukarouba.

If you want to get out alive, I need to talk to him.

So what, whore? Lost your tongue?

Answer him.

But Senghor understands Arabic.

One wrong word and you die.

Mourad!

If my father, Mohand Aouda— God keep him—were here,

he'd cut your tongue out for speaking to me like that.

Assia!

My niece!

What are you doing with the French?

I'm not with them. I'm a prisoner.

It's your lucky day, my niece.

Tell them to surrender and we won't kill them.

French soldiers,

you have my word.

Is his word worth anything?

My uncle!

They'll only surrender

if you give your word as an Algerian.

Tell them not to be afraid.

They have the word of a true Algerian.

You can repeat it to them.

Now his word is worth something.

Chahida.

How are you?

I hope you didn't hurt them.

Are you okay?

Not too tight, French soldier?

Yasmine!

Ali!

They got you, you son of a bitch?

They got you, you son of a bitch?

Shut up!

That's enough!

Why did you hit the black guy?

Step aside.

Stop.

This son of a bitch killed my sister,

my nieces, the girls from the village.

Children, women, old people!

- I'm gonna kill him. - Stop.

Today I'm gonna end him.

- Stop, Youcef. - I won't stop!

Today I kill him!

I'm gonna kill him.

Understood?

I'm gonna slit his throat!

Stop, brother.

I heard you.

I'm gonna slit your throat today.

That's enough!

What the hell is this?

Colonel Breitner, Soua.

We'll have a conversation in due time.

Youcef.

This man accuses you of killing women and children.

Among the victims were his sister and two of his nieces.

Did you do that?

I didn't kill any children in Agouni Arous.

He's lying.

You killed their parents.

And their grandparents too.

Colonel,

the children...

What children?

The children over there,

it's thanks to the sergeant major that they're alive.

I know.

My men were on the attackers' trail.

So?

You owe him those lives.

Wait.

Wait!

If I give you crucial information,

do I have your word that you'll leave the sergeant major alive?

You have my word as a French officer.

But prove you're telling the truth.

In the bag.

Napalm.

Exactly.

Tomorrow at dawn.

Do you know what Albert Camus said?

He said: "I believe in justice,

"but I will always defend my mother before justice."

Well, same for me.

I defend my men before justice.

Always.

Youcef!

Kill him.

It's good, Colonel.

It's fair.

Now you bury him.

Why would I bury him?

The French buried the people of your village.

You wanted justice, dig that hole!

Understood?

Who is this young woman?

Daughter of Si Omar.

So you are Assia Bent Aouda.

The black man left with dignity.

I hope you do the same.

Very well.

Untie him.

Let him go.

What is this, Colonel?

You gave your word as an officer!

Breitner, open your eyes.

Look at which shore I'm standing on.

Do you think my word as a French officer has any value?

Mourad,

if the Colonel gets aggressive,

cut off one of the girl's hands.

Stop staring at me and spit out what's on your mind.

If you'll allow me, Colonel,

you're scum who betrayed his country

and his family.

How can I betray my country when Algeria is France?

My family only loves its children

when they die as heroes for the homeland.

Come, we must find a solution so I don't have to kill you.

♪ Soft song in Arabic

He was kind.

He saved my life.

He was kind?

For how many bad ones?

He saved you

but how many of our brothers did he kill?

Did you think about that?

Listen.

If you have to cry,

cry on the graves of your father and mother,

and of the Algerians killed by the French.

Did you understand clearly?

He saved me.

It wasn't the French who killed my parents,

it was Arabs.

It's true.

It wasn't the French.

And it wasn't Arabs either.

Actually,

they were dogs.

You buried the black man.

Do you feel better?

Tell the Colonel who you are.

Tell him.

France, I loved it.

Very much.

This

is for the thanks.

I fought for your country.

At Monte Cassino.

In Indochina too.

And I returned to my village.

Wounded, perhaps,

but absolutely certain

of having earned the right to be French through the blood shed.

The DOP tortured me for two days.

On the third,

they called the barracks where I worked.

They released me.

And apologized.

Before, I polished French officers' boots so well

that they could see themselves in them.

Today,

I kill French soldiers

to spill their blood

and look at myself in it.

Let me tell you something,

Youcef.

When you go to war and you lose,

you don't take off your shirt to cry.

You see, Colonel, it's exactly

that kind of attitude that brought us to where we are.

This contempt with which we look at these people,

our disgust for their religion and their culture,

and because we don't like it, we kill them!

We did the same dirty things in Indochina, you and I.

We didn't hold back.

Me, because I'm French by birth,

so out of duty to my homeland,

and you to become a Frenchman on paper!

Honestly,

which of us is worse?

All these horrors for what result?

We made these people as crazy and barbaric as we are!

Admit that it borders on dismay.

Me being on the other side won't change anything.

We won, but what did we win?

I got dirty and degraded myself,

but if I'm going to kill and massacre,

at least I'm doing it on the right side!

When you make the army your profession,

you set your heart aside,

that's the price to pay,

Colonel.

I'm going to make you an honest proposal.

And you'd better accept it, Breitner.

Or you'll see what I'm capable of

when I set my heart aside.

My brother,

what are you doing here?

My brother...

What's wrong, uncle?

Why did you bring the French here?

I didn't bring them,

they knew where to find you.

And you let them catch you?

You did nothing?

Why?

Why, my niece?

Look at yourself.

Look at yourself!

You're beautiful, but so fragile.

You couldn't do anything.

Come into my arms.

Come on, come here.

This Frenchman, Breitner,

didn't he leave soldiers as reinforcements?

Dirty whore!

We interrogated the kids.

They said there were five of you.

Five, you dirty whore!

And the fifth one,

has a tattoo on his face.

Did you forget?

Traitor...

Rotten!

Traitor!

I'm not done with you,

not yet.

Come on, brothers. Come.

Come on.

Gather your things.

We have to leave before dawn.

Let's go.

Hurry up!

Give this to my mother as proof

of the success of your mission.

I can't.

Take this, take Soua and leave.

Go get the gook!

You've decided?

Cut off her ears and slit her throat.

Don't move, don't move!

Don't move.

All right, stop!

Be clearer.

Okay, I accept.

I accept!

Do I have your word as an officer?

You have my word as an officer.

There we go.

Release her. Go get their things.

Colonel.

One of our guys with the ragheads.

What the hell are you doing here?

What's going on?

She betrayed us.

- They have a man in reserve. - Of course!

Who cares, they're leaving.

Problem with that, Colonel?

And you, Youcef?

No problem with that?

I didn't betray.

Khafir!

All your things,

weapons included, are in the bag.

Proof of my trust in your word as an officer.

Khafir and Youcef will accompany you to the gorge.

You won't have any trouble reaching your jeeps.

Bring the weapon.

Look at the Frenchman you helped.

He's leaving and abandoning you.

Move.

Move.

To him, you're no more than a whore.

Me,

I'm going to die as an Algerian.

But you...

you're going to live like a dog

to serve the Frenchman who holds you.

I'm French as long as it serves my war.

Filthy race.

Youcef.

You're not supposed to be here.

I gave you a specific order.

I know, Colonel.

And now, you're going to let them do it?

The mission is over.

Do you still know what mercy is?

What did you say?

Do you still know what mercy is?

You said that to me when I killed the raghead.

I thought you came to kill Arabs.

Let them massacre each other, that should please you.

No.

I'm here to do better than my father in Indochina.

He would never have let a woman be tortured.

You think you'll get a medal if you save a fellagha?

I don't believe in anything.

I didn't come to do worse than my father.

What are you doing?

She helped us. We owe her that.

Mohamed! Go get the Colonel!

Why did you come back, French soldier?

Huh?

To die?

What the hell are you doing here again, Breitner?

Let her go.

Where are Khafir and Youcef?

I don't see Soua.

Khafir and Youcef are dead.

I don't remember Soua knowing how to hold a rifle.

She still doesn't.

It was one of our guys who fired.

Let's go.

Move again, Boukarouba.

The next one goes in your head.

Good, Colonel, good!

Mourad, let her go.

Come on!

I can't believe it, Colonel.

You broke your word as an officer for this!

Nobody move!

Whoever shoots, I kill him!

Breitner! Colonel Breitner!

It's okay, Soua.

Everything's fine.

I still have more war to win.

I'm no good for anything anymore.

Even Assia...

I couldn't save her.

So...

Dying here

is still the best I can do.

But you,

Boukarouba,

do you want to die here?

With me?

Or do you have something else to do?

French soldier,

I still have a war to win.

I have a people to liberate!

I can't die today.

So...

What are you waiting for?

Brothers, we're leaving!

You, come with me.

♪ "La Marseillaise" sung in Arabic