Original subtitles

On 1st November 1954, there started in Algeria a war

that was to last 7 years.

In May 1958, this war precipitated the downfall of the Fourth Republic,

placing General de Gaulle in power.

April 1961 saw a putsch by the generals,

unique in the history of France, and moreover the OAS.

France believed itself on the brink of civil war.

In July 1962,

Algeria became independent.

This war cost France 30,000

dead soldiers, like that officer

we saw being carried by his men.

I remind you that 280,0000 young Frenchmen served in Algeria.

Professor Paulet, former resistance fighter and deportee.

Yes. Their sacrifice should have been avoided.

It was a pointless war, a bad cause,

which demoralised the Nation,

involving the army in some terrible abuses.

Even that captain...

Nobody likes to speak ill of the dead

and I'd rather that man was sitting opposite me,

but since your film

ends with...

It's strong lead-off! - The prof isn't holding back.

Well, even that captain

was a torturer and a murderer.

You're gratuitously insulting an officer who died for France.

Who tortured in the name of France. - You keep repeating that word.

The army in Algeria did nothing but torture!

It's a lie. It's propaganda.

You know nothing of which you speak. You don't even know who he was!

Yes I do, Marcel Car on, captain, commander of 2nd company of the 423rd

battalion of Alpine infantry, ex-instructor at Arzew, school

for psychological warfare... - Car on! Marcel Car on!

That's who you are insulting. And you, General,

this concerns you too!

Car on served under you. He died under your command.

From others one might expect it, but from you?

You disgust me! I don't know why I came here!

We invited you...

Get the slide up. Not that one, fool!

The one in the kepi. The one they're discussing!

I think that the case of Captain Car on is exemplary.

For me, it's a reference point

that illustrates in concrete terms...

I'm going to return to this throughout the discussion.

Yes, Pierre, yes?

Yes, yes, I heard.

Yes, it's continuing, by the way.

You can't do that.

You can't, he can say what he likes.

I'm not defending him, Pierre...

Hold on! Listen.

...the putsch and the OAS.

I'm not listening to insults directed at one of my comrades.

I am departing the victor.

Gentlemen the good apostles, no fond farewell from me.

Oh heck!

Guillou's furious and walked off.

Your father was the best man I ever met.

His comrades all said he was the best among them.

So...

Pierre?

The putsch and the OAS. - Ah, we always come back to the OAS!

Good morning.

There.

Discuss this quotation from Nietzsche: "The child is father to the man."

I'll collect your papers in 2 hours.

But madam, this wasn't forewarned...

The unexpected, miss, is part of life.

What's up, Berthou?

Is this a formal assessment, madam? - Yes.

Patricia!

Pat!

How are you?

I can guess already what they've said. - Oh, nothing remarkable...

I'm livid.

I want to sue that Paulet for defamation.

Patricia, don't upset yourself.

I'm not upset.

It's been 20 years, you realise all the muck you'll stir up?

These days there's no ambiguity about that war.

Everyone know the military used some torture in Algeria.

I'm not saying your husband did it, I don't know.

As for yesterday's broadcast, by tomorrow everyone will have forgotten.

Maybe.

Everyone will have forgotten.

Not me!

You're getting worked up about old things.

You want to play Antigone? It'd be a mistake.

That was literature.

You want some sort of reckoning?

Your whole life since...

You want to call it into question? - No.

Why then?

For a man dead these 20 years, who you hardly knew?

Okay...

Whatever you decide, I'll support you.

Hmm? Why?

Because you're fucking me?

Fool!

Because I love you!

Madam Car on.

You've remembered you have a family?

This is a novelty.

I've come to ask some advice, uncle.

It's this: I want to launch

a defamation suit against that guy on television.

What guy? - Paulet.

The professor.

Why's this?

You know very well why!

Well...

Seven highly regarded books.

All by Professor Paulet. Translations in 25 languages.

And you want to take him on?

Why?

No, stay!

You haven't been here for 20 years. You're going to walk out like that?!

No, say what you have to say.

You haven't come just for this?

Firstly, you must be aware that a man like

Professor Paulet

wouldn't say such things if he couldn't back them up.

Plus he knows about your husband

and the famous school of psychological warfare, in Algeria.

You and us, your family, what do we know

of that part of your husband's

life that's in question?

War is not something for choirboys, my girl.

Yes.

I've made my decision.

I wasted my time coming here.

Don't be a fool, you know that I love you!

I've always stood up for you.

Even with the family.

Even when you got married!

I don't understand you.

You did what you wanted!

Now, what do you want?

To justify your choice? 20 years later, who cares?

The word's changing, girlie. It's evolving.

Man has walked on the moon, explores Saturn's rings.

So, your husband's Algerian war

is millions of light years ago already!

Listen, legally speaking, your case is very simple.

You don't need me.

The incriminating acts are 20 years old.

They're covered by the amnesty law of 31 July 1968.

You can't lose.

Enforce the law. Paulet will be found guilty.

And he'll pay the symbolic Franc.

What is it you want?

Money?

Ah, I see...

You want to proclaim to the world

that Paulet lied.

You want to affirm that he lied.

You've too much pride, girl.

You'll wind up isolated.

Nobody will follow you.

Nobody will believe you.

Plus, in the end...

Professor Paulet may not be a total liar.

No.

No, don't do this.

No.

In any event,

I won't join you down this road.

What would you do in my place? - I'm not in your place.

In the end you reacted well, on the television.

So what would you have done if...

it'd been you?

I'd have slapped his fat face.

As for the rest, I did what it took.

Look where it got me. Seven years in jail.

Until saved by the bell. The amnesty.

That's why you won't stand up?

I'm livid.

I'm suing.

With the family's President of the Bar? - No, without the President.

I've somebody on my side.

Lawyer Valouin.

I don't need anyone.

You see, this is where I met him.

Why won't you help me?

Worried about what you did over there? - The ministry won't help you either.

The Defense Ministry don't like waves being made.

Even more, they'll put obstacles in your path.

You know, the army was damaged by that business.

They won't want to rub salt in the wounds.

Waves!

Your case will make waves.

Some advice:

gather plenty of evidence on his Resistance activities in Haute-Savoie

during the war, in '43, '44.

It's going to need it.

But Savoie has nothing to do with Algeria!

Character evidence, as the saying goes.

Even today, the Resistance impresses the courts.

Any ammunition is good. I know, I've been there.

And go see Keller, the General at Saint-Cyr, you son's commander.

Look out, you'll get wet!

Perhaps you're right to launch this action, Pat.

They'll make lots of hot air, like on TV,

they'll split hairs, they'll nit-pick.

They'll slaughter us again.

It'll probably help no-one, but we'll be in the firing line again.

Whatever happens, it'll be a right clown show.

I need to go away.

Right now? - Yes.

Have a seat.

You want some time away from here? Is that it?

Because of that program me, eh?

It's not worth it, come on.

Don't beat yourself up over it.

I've come to ask for some time off.

Impossible. We are in the examination season. Absolutely impossible.

Then I ask you to accept my resignation.

Listen. Bring me a medical certificate

and don't quit.

Don't do something silly like that!

Our promotion. There, Duruy, killed at Cao Bang,

Lacloze, convoyed from Dalat in 1948,

Dead. Killed in Algeria.

Dead... dead... dead.

Ah...

Seven years in prison at Fresnes, OAS, our chum Guillou.

Ah, working at Air Liquide. General, like me.

Dead.

Killed in Cochinchine, or in Cambodia, I'm not sure which.

This one, paralysed, bullet in the spinal cord.

Dead.

Marcel Car on, lieutenant, in '49.

It's an old photo from Indochina.

But at Fort d'Ivry, you're bound to find more.

It's the army's film archive service.

Ask for Dubois. Do you know him?

Dubois? No.

He'll show you photos of Car on after he was freed in '54.

Car on spent 4 years in prison with the Viets.

They made us lie.

They led us to that.

Lie or die.

Instead of death, their captain ordered them to lie.

That way some would survive.

Play a game with the Viets by exercising mental control,

like the Jesuits.

That was his last order.

He shouldered the entire burden before dying.

To save them and to save their souls,

he told them...

"You are not responsible for your lies, you obeyed me.

If later on you are asked to account for yourself, you answer:

It was an order

from our captain.”

It doesn't sit well with a soldier to lie, even under orders.

History will judge us.

She will be fair to us soldiers, I'm sure of that.

But this is not yet a matter of History.

This case won't work out like it should. It's too soon.

You're mistaken to undertake this.

They won't speak of the sacrifice of our comrades,

of duty, the self-sacrifice of a soldier.

They'll only dig up

the ineluctable horrors of war.

Everything will be... a caricature.

Yes. You're wrong.

Chief adjudant Ducourtois, at your service, General.

Call officer trainee Pierre Car on for me.

Car on!

Trainee officer Car on, Villiers company, at your service, General.

You can say hello to your mother.

I've come to say I'm mounting this case for you.

I'm not doing it for myself.

I'm doing it for you.

May I go, General?

Mr Potier, Mrs Car on. - Hello.

Hello, madam. - Mr Brayer.

Hello, madam. - Hello.

This way.

Mr and Mrs Long. - Hello.

You're going to see...

17 December 1949, a few kilometres outside That Khé.

We were almost wiped out.

Three battalions of Viet-Minh jumped us.

The RC 4.

Indochina in 1949.

Our coolies...

The PIM.

'Prisoners interned military'.

Our logistics at the time.

Lieutenant Car on, your husband.

See that one running... He's going to be hit.

He's dead. Almost all of them died

later, amidst the limestone.

I took these shots.

I put this film together.

I selected the music.

Going back down on RC 4

with the wounded, I saw what remained of the convoy.

So that's war?

Yes, that's it.

You want to see the liberation of the prisoners at the war's end?

This is raw footage.

Unedited. Mute.

Shot in '54.

So this is them?

The future torturers in Algeria.

Torturers?

Nobody knows what they're talking about these days.

Words have lost all meaning.

These are prisoners of war?

Again...

It was only 1 in 4

who returned.

Lieutenant Car on was in a condition much like this,

when I saw him on the Red River.

Torturers? You want me to show what

the Fellagas in Algeria did? - No.

You're right. We shouldn't rake over the Algerian war again.

It's done, over. - This isn't about the Algerian war.

It's about my husband.

It's Gillard QC who'll defend Professor Paulet.

A big shot.

Well, Gillard was in the maquis at Vercors.

Croix de guerre. Medal of the Resistance.

I don't think your little lawyer from Quimper stands a chance.

They'll wipe the floor with you.

Are you listening to what I'm saying?

Yes.

Listen... to what Marcel wrote me.

"I've done all that a soldier's used to doing.

As for the rest, I'll do what I can."

La Hire.

What do you mean, La Hire?

La Hire! Joan of Arc's companion.

It's a quotation from him. La Hire was speaking to his confessor,

just before dying: "As for the rest,

I'll do what I can."

It was his last letter.

Want to see who that is?

Ah, this is by Lucien Simon!

The painter gave it to my father in 1939.

Chauvel...

This belonged to my great-grandfather,

when he was serving in the China Sea

in Jauréguiberry's squadron.

I didn't know you had it.

How could you have known? You never come here.

You're making a terrible mistake.

You're going to be crushed.

You're sticking your neck out for problems

with the education system and your school.

Breton-headed, pig-headed, you're one of the family all right...

Your son has asked me to speak to you.

Not here. Come on.

In court, you'll lose the psychological advantage of being a widow.

Because you will be the proxy for your husband.

Be aware of this.

You will in a way become

Marcel Car on and you'll take on all that he did.

Everything.

In this kind of trial, there's no judicial investigation,

nor one by the police. Each party must build their own case

bring their own witnesses. The investigation takes place

in the courtroom.

Your opp... Have a seat. Your opponents...

are conducting an investigation to back up their claims.

They'll assemble witnesses.

We're assisting...

in a washing

of dirty laundry. - Us?

The friend you hired as a lawyer came asking for advice.

Not as your uncle, but as the barrister I am,

given that it's a tricky case.

I've also received an appeal from a politician,

a valuable connection in Paris, close to the Defense Ministry.

He insisted, politely but firmly,

that I should get you to drop this case.

It was this that made up my mind.

I hate...

being put under pressure when it's a family matter.

This is the broadcast.

I've watched and rewatched it.

That Professor Paulet irritates me.

I don't like the way he reduces men to their principles.

Life is less simple, more noble than he believes.

This needs to be said.

Somebody must tell him.

Right...

There's going to be a skeleton hiding in the closet somewhere.

A dark story about prisoners, brutality,

of the disappeared, French, Algerian.

We'll have to disentangle all that.

Well, it's my case. Your lawyer has given it to me.

It's reassuring to know that

three of the soldiers that served under Marcel

in Algeria agreed immediately to give testimony in his favour.

As for yourself, you need to be aware that every aspect of your husband's life

is going to be dissected,

spread out on the table.

The heart, the liver, the spleen and everything else.

You married him in 1955, when he returned from Indochina.

He died in '58.

Three years with him, no, at most...

9 or 10 months, if one combines all his leave.

Time enough to make a child. Some might say you barely knew him.

It's true, I only knew part of him.

And Marcel had only really known warfare.

Firstly, war with the maquis, here,

at 17 years old.

At 17, a man is still a boy.

Marcel was an orphan and I won't deny

that if I sent him to the small seminary at Thônes,

it was because I hoped

I wished profoundly,

that Marcel would become a priest.

A missionary, even, because

he had a passion for the open sea.

That's him, Little Bara,

his name in the Resistance... - Oh yes!

That's him! That's Marcel! Little Bara!

It was his name in the maquis of Glières.

Truth be told, the soul of Glières was Tom...

He's dead because he believed the word

of hon our of a bastard.

You see,

I was Marcel's legal guardian.

He listened to me and he loved me.

However Marcel's spiritual father

was Tom.

These old men of the maquis,

they were his family.

They'd all come to my wedding and I hadn't paid them much heed.

Antonioz told me: "Lieutenant Tom, everything he did,

he did it for hon our."

Like??? said:

No nation can exist without hon our."

I'm going to Paris for the trial. We must defend Little Bara.

There were

465 of them, there below!

On this Glières plateau.

465 against thousands of Vichy policemen.

In the end the Germans had to send in a division,

12000 men, to defeat them.

465 who wanted to live free or die.

That was the motto Tom had given them.

They were 465 ragamuffins.

And Marcel Car on, Little Bara,

he was one of those ragamuffins.

Nice to greet you in Paris, barrister sir.

It's a great hon our to face an opponent such as yourself, sir.

Please, barrister sir.

May I?

Court rise.

The court is in session. Please be seated.

It's a direct quotation?

Yes, for reasons of expediency, the prosecution does not wish to proceed.

Professor,

please take the stand.

Your name, first name, age and profession?

Paulet, André,

born 5th October 1919, in Mamers, in the Sarthe.

Professor of Sociology at the Sorbonne.

You know the reasons for your subpoena?

Yes, President. - Counsel,

elaborate on the grounds for your legal action.

We are here to defend the hon our of a man under attack

in that in which he placed the highest regard.

To paraphrase Antigone in Sophocles, I say,

"Do they want more than his life,

now that he has given it?"

In accusing Captain Car on

of being "a murderer and a torturer",

I cite, Your Honour, in accusing him of treason

Professor Paulet

has seriously defamed the memory of an officer who gave his life for France.

In maintaining such a claim,

he has also assaulted the hon our and reputation of his widow

and his son,

a trainee officer at Saint-Cyr.

"He who judges is terrible

if he judges falsely".

We will show at this bar that the judgments

of Mr Paulet are false.

Your Honour,

we intend to provide evidence

that Professor Paulet did not defame Captain Car on,

that he did not act inadvertently,

flippantly, lightly or with malice.

Captain Car on commanded for 19 days

2nd Company of the 423rd Alpine infantry battalion

stationed in Eastern Algeria.

During those 19 days,

two Muslims disappeared

one prisoner was shot,

a shepherd tortured,

all in a mere 19 days.

And that, as regarding treason,

there was an illegal violation of Tunisian territory.

Captain Caron's hon our must yield to the truth.

It's one of two things:

either Captain Car on was a responsible officer

or otherwise he was a very poor officer.

Professor Paulet would like to make a statement.

In all sincerity, madam, I wish I was wrong...

or had been deceived.

For our country's hon our, there have been officers

who refused to conduct torture,

to order the famous "fetching wood"

which, as well all know, were really murders!

Captain Car on was not one of them.

These practices

that I've heard, once again, denounced at this bar,

were not the work of Captain Car on alone

and his responsibility is not the only issue here.

The prime responsibility lies with those who embroiled

the nation in that unjust war

that could only engender this!

Stay on the subject in hand.

We are on it, Your Honour.

This political responsibility

does not detract from the individual responsibility

of those who engaged in these practices.

Even a soldier retains his free will.

Silence, or I will clear the room.

Let's talk straight...

The individual case of Captain Car on

is of little concern to our opponent.

He only condemned him out of sensationalism.

If I'm right,

the hon our of the French Army,

and thus that of France,

is connected to the hon our of Captain Car on.

This is the text of his posthumous citation

that accompanied his promotion to an officer of the Legion of Honour

for Captain Car on.

"Having chosen hon our, this officer, as part of the Resistance,

went beyond the call of duty in his service of France.

Signed Charles de Gaulle."

The dead

possess the formidable privilege of having become... untouchable.

We too often forget

that they were men,

with all their strengths,

but also their weaknesses.

In trials of this type,

and there have been some,

we are never able to argue the case on its merits,

the army always hides

behind official secrecy,

like behind the Maginot Line.

Yes, we wish Captain Car on to be the one tried here.

Plus ultimately,

the army that covered up for him.

That is not

the subject of the summons before the court, counsel.

And it is my intention that we stick

to the case that concerns us. - We want to find the truth too.

The truth about Captain Car on.

The truth about our army in Algeria.

The truth,

whatever it may be!

A great people must be able to bear the truth.

We won't be hiding behind the amnesty law.

We don't want it.

We want...

the truth.

Therefore I propose to the court to follow step by step, day by day,

via the testimony of his soldiers, Captain Car on

from the moment he took command.

Nineteen days, my colleague claimed, no...

We, we say it was eighteen.

Nineteen, eighteen days... is this count so important?

It's crucial, Your Honour!

We'd like to call firstly Mr Minh.

Mr Minh!

Name, first name, age, profession, domicile?

Nguyen Minh, 54 years old,

restaurateur.

I own Old Tonkin,

Chinese-Vietnamese cuisine in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre.

You swear to tell the truth,

nothing but the truth, raise your right hand and say "I swear".

I swear.

Mr Minh,

you belonged to the 423rd battalion of Alpine infantry?

Yes, Your Honour.

Why was Captain Car on appointed to lead your unit?

To put it in order.

Counsel, I will lead the questioning.

If I may, Your Honour. In a letter to his wife,

Captain Car on gave the reasons for his promotion.

It was a deliberate selection.

"It is by grid units that this war'll be won.

This is why I requested the Alpine battalion

rather than the Paras or the Legion.

When I arrived, they had been badly mauled...

Mr Minh, continue.

I well remember what had happened before Captain Car on arrived.

They were things nobody could forget.

He took command after...

the business in Mechta Khampsa.

Hey, Zik!

Can you believe it, in Ben Rebaï's word?

No.

What about you, La Ficelle?

You know, I'm still looking for the war around here!

You used all your cartridges?

In charging after those three guys we never caught.

And if we had caught them?

If if's and and's were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands!

♪? ♪

This is the war here.

And if it was like this?

Stop.

To the right!

To the left!

Disperse, disperse!

Calling Munoz.

In place. Over.

Calling Munoz. We're going in.

Over and out.

Fall back! Fall back!

Everyone on the ridge! Fall back!

Move yourselves! Move yourselves!

Move yourselves!

Bordel!

Jean's hit! Help me!

Spread out!

Get down!

Calling Munoz, this is Boileau. What's your status? Over.

Five dead, seven wounded, we're going to be wiped out. Munoz's gone.

What a fucking mess!

Call the PC.

Call the PC! - Yes, chief!

Calling Soleil Rouge, this is Lima. Over.

Shit! There's no tone!

It was cut. - Calling Soleil Rouge, this is Lima...

Antomarchi! Status report!

Riton is missing, Ludo is wounded.

Calling Soleil Rouge, this is Lima. Barely hanging on.

I think Jean's dead.

I'm wounded.

One who's not getting out of this is Ben Rebaï.

What I'm going to do to that bastard...

Afterwards, Your Honour, we counted

our losses. The Munoz group, the one that had gone to the left,

was almost wiped out.

Seven dead, three wounded and three missing:

Munoz, Vernon and Torrens.

Adding those from our group,

that made 8 dead, 7 wounded and 3 prisoners out of 25 men.

Your Honour,

do you remember that small phrase from Sergeant-Major Boileau:

"One who's not getting out of this is Ben Rebaï"?

Coincidentally,

the captain had taken command of his company.

What happened to Ben Rebaï?

Ben Rebaï was already dead when the captain arrived.

Dead!

How?

I don't know.

Then how can you know he was already dead

when Captain Car on assumed command?

Ben Rebaï wasn't there at the morning call.

The captain sent out a group to recover his body a little later.

Captain Car on?

Yes.

He therefore knew where the body of Ben Rebaï was?

Yes or no?

Yes.

Captain Car on knew where the body of Ben Rebaï was

for the very good reason it was him who'd struck him down.

His method of restoring order. - We object!

We object, Your Honour.

Captain Car on took command

at morning roll call.

Mr Minh has already clearly told us

that Ben Rebaï was already dead.

Eighteen or nineteen days?

Nineteen days. The captain had already arrived the day before.

Don't you remember, Mr Minh?

I don't know. In any event, I saw nothing.

Remember. Remember, Mr Minh,

your return from the ambush at Mechta Khampsa.

Remember.

Mr Minh...

Our comrades were waiting for us. They said:

"After this, we're be going back to France."

Here they are!

The barrier, for fuck's sake! - They're back!

Out of the way! Let the wounded through!

Is it true Jean's dead?

And they slit the throats of the dead in Munoz's band!

Oh, those bastards!

I hear we have a new captain... - Yes.

A guy from the Paras. He's called Car on.

We said 19 days.

You heard. "We have a new captain.

He's called Car on.

A guy from the Paras."

Eighteen days!

We request the testimony of witness Schuster. He'll confirm it.

Schuster, Jean-François.

Traveling salesman, from Épinal, in the Vosges.

The first time I saw him, it was at the raising of the colours,

the day after the ambush.

However he was there the day before!

Maybe. I didn't see him until the next day.

At ease!

I'm Captain Car on,

new company commander.

Three of our comrades are today prisoners of the Fellagas.

Three men we will do everything to get back,

I can assure you.

Yesterday, you discovered what war is.

I'm speaking particularly to the men of 2nd section.

Those who were at Mechta Khampsa.

Yesterday, you discovered what war is.

Today, we're going to make it.

We're going to form a search party

out of you

who took a beating at Mechta Khampsa.

Out of those I select.

If to fight the Fells,

we have to be as twisted as them, so be it. And more so!

For as long as it takes!

Dismissed!

Send the ones from Mechta Khampsa to my office.

You quoted Sophocles, counsel.

That morning.

It was Antigone who'd reclaim justice.

"What is this audacity? What is she thinking?"

Yes, Your Honour,

that morning a wife would reclaim the lost body

of her husband!

And from whom?

From Captain Car on, obviously.

Mr Schuster,

who gave the order to kill Ben Rebaï?

Mr Schuster, you've sworn to tell the truth!

The whole truth!

Answer the question.

Ben Rebaï was...

He caused the ambush.

To explain properly, I have to backtrack.

Buddies,

dead...

When we returned, I didn't even go to the canteen.

Chief Boileau woke me.

What's up? - It's Boileau.

What do you want?

Open up, for pete's sake! I have to talk.

I've got the shits!

Come on, don't make excuses. Come out, Ben.

Go on, Ben Rebaï, open up!

Who ordered you to go out and search for Ben Rebaï?

I followed Chief Boileau.

And what did you do?

What did you do?

What did you do with Ben Rebaï?

Speak up, Schuster!

We passed him on to be zapped.

"We"... "we"?

What's this?

Who's this "we"?

Who ran this... zapping?

Me.

I was the one turned the crank.

We knew he was the one who'd betrayed us.

Moreover, he admitted it.

When he examined him, Vignol the nurse

told us he was half-dead.

Therefore, the chief finished him off.

Three bullets from a PM.

We dumped his body in the hills.

Tortured, executed,

the body of Ben Rebaï

was recovered

on Captain Caron's orders.

This is what the two witnesses have told us.

Therefore Captain Car on must be behind this murder.

Why did Captain Car on

summon, as soon as he took command,

Boileau, Vignol and Schuster?

Could you tell us, Mr. Schuster?

He gave us a ton of grief... - No. Erm...

Address yourself to the court.

He gave us a ton of grief.

He first saw Chief Boileau, for a face-to-face.

He gave him a right bollocking.

Excuse me, there were raised voices.

You could hear the shouting. Afterwards, it was our turn for fun-and-games.

Adjudant Legrand!

This flag is against regulations and you will burn all these photos.

You'll put up a map of the frontier zone.

Yes, captain!

There's too much barbed wire here!

We're penned in.

You acted like thugs.

Like cheap hoodlums!

The army is not a place for grubby vengeance.

We wage war.

Chief Boileau should've remembered this.

Ben Rebaï was a traitor.

Then he should die a traitor's death.

Throat slit on a track.

But by his brothers!

All you had to do was spread the word he was a double crosser.

Tortured, he'll have admitted anything.

The Fells would've liquidated him! They're very good at that.

♪? ♪

But given the point you'd reached,

why didn't you cut Ben Rebaï's throat? Eh?

You could have lowered yourselves to the level of the Fells!

Now, I've a widow on my back.

A police inquiry, a colonel's inquiry...

Bravo, gentlemen.

Nice work!

The ones from Mechta Khampsa, Captain.

Corporal Antomarchi, at your command, Captain!

The instructor.

Instructor sir,

do you know what Marcus Aurelius, the emperor,

wrote in his memoirs? In his "Thoughts"?

"Accustom yourself to all that discourages."

That's how the Algerian War was.

Discouraging.

All the time you had to make fresh starts.

Does the witness feel no remorse for his actions?

No.

The Captain was right to say Ben Rebaï should've had this throat cut.

That's how it is over there.

Here it is. "That's how it is over there".

Torture, murder, throat-slitting...

commonplace.

Your Honour, we're not here

to judge Schuster or the Algerian War.

What?

The barrister, himself,

during his opening statement,

told us

that here, in this courtroom,

we'd be seeking not only the truth about Marcel Car on,

but also about certain actions of our army in Algeria.

Yes, but let's not sidetrack ourselves.

What's this about?

The regrets of Mr Schuster? No.

The judging of France?

History is not to be judged, it is to be observed.

And what can we observe?

This testimony exonerates Captain Car on,

because in the matter of Ben Rebaï, he gave just one order:

to recover the body.

18 days, Your Honour. 18 days only!

Concerning the culpability

of Captain Car on in this, do you have anything to add,

Counsel?

Yes.

The regret of observing

that Captain Car on did not see fit to condemn

the horrible actions of his subordinates

as contrary to morality,

but because it would have been more efficient

to allow Ben Rebaï to have his throat cut by his brothers.

The consequence,

Car on stifled the remorse of that man.

President, perhaps there are just wars,

but there are no clean wars. I know this, we know this.

Counsel, back to the subject of Captain Car on.

We will carry on following him,

slowly, step by step, day by day.

On arrival at Lauterbourg-Sidi Boulam,

he had only 18 days left to live. I request

a little patience from the court.

He had come

to restore order, yes, in a fashion.

He explains this to his wife.

"To pacify,

you must protect day and night the folk of whom one has charge.

I had to remind my lads that they are firstly

soldiers before being teachers,

medics or even social workers.

They seem to have forgotten somewhat.

I'm in the process of training a commando unit,

La Horde.

They like the name.

I'm happy.

There's purpose in my being here."

Light infantryman, Servoz Michel, reporting, Captain.

Light infantryman, Mignon César reporting, Captain.

Nguyen Minh, second class, reporting, Captain.

Second class Sliman, born in M'Sila, reporting, Captain.

Second class Lobbé Éric, reporting, Captain.

Second class Maury Patrick, reporting, Captain.

Maury Éric, reporting, Captain.

Second class Leravo Pierre, reporting, Captain.

Second class Riton,

barman at Fouquet's, reporting, Captain.

♪ Its splendor, its glory ♪

♪ and its renown ♪

♪? ♪

♪ To the nation ♪

♪ Its splendor, its glory and its renown ♪

♪ The battle ♪

La Horde was formed.

For Car on, it was time to go on the offensive.

He's going to apply his theories from Arzew.

And why not go on the offensive?

Don't forget that 3 French soldiers

were prisoners and their lives in danger.

Car on was only too aware.

But what is this doctrine of Arzew?

For a soldier,

for every soldier,

war has laws.

This is what we call

the hon our of arms.

"Revolutionary war has no

morality except action", according to Trotsky.

That is, it doesn't have any.

The French Army is under a political control

that sets its mission.

The one here is imperative. It's in the regulations.

In Algeria, our mission was to restore order,

to combat subversion.

To fight well, you have to know what you're fighting.

In the field, officers are

the only ones responsible for their operational response.

This was recalled by Captain Car on

to our trainees at Arzew

when he told them:

"You will be the judges of what has to be done, you alone.

Your daily bread will be solitude."

Then he added:

"Because you are the best, you will win."

Nobody is ever the best

when their cause is evil.

Victory is like God...

you believe in it or you don't.

At Arzew, was torture prohibited

because it was ineffective,

or because it was immoral?

The legal use of torture, once called the question,

was abolished by the Marquis de Malesherbes,

Minister of Justice under Louis XVI.

As far as I know, the Republic hasn't reversed that decision.

"War

is a simple art and everything in it is the execution."

I'm quoting Napoléon.

It's precisely the manner in which you executed it that is in question.

Professor Paulet investigated Arzew on a official mission.

He knows very well our methods described in this our handbook,

on psychological warfare.

Nothing secret, nothing mysterious.

No, nothing...

Everything's in the book.

With the exception, however, of special cases...

The disappeared.

The tortured.

Psychological warfare?

Let's look at the facts.

The facts are stubborn!

And listen to Doctor Hyacinthe Bama,

the company doctor.

The atmosphere in the village had changed.

Nobody came to the dispensary.

The children weren't in school.

Get rid of all this barbed wire. Then these sandbags...

It must be open to everyone here. - Yes, sir.

The people hadn't suddenly become

wicked, but they no longer spoke to us.

An instinctive reaction.

They were waiting to see who'd prove stronger, the Fells or us.

They were scared. They'd seen the disappearance of Ben Rebaï.

I don't want my soldiers to come across as blowhards.

Salem! - Yeah.

Hello. Tell Moktar he's going to alter our outfits.

[Exchange in Arabic]

Okay?

That's that. Antomarchi? - Yes?

What can we do for your school?

Let the kids come, that's all. - Because Salem...

- Captain, he pays off to the FLN. - So what? He won't be the only one.

He's a bastard. - We're all bastards.

What's this? Schuster!

Schuster!

Cut out that circus at once. - It's to find out...

I know. From now on, we're not doing it.

Yes, captain.

I don't understand. Explain to me, sir.

It's because of a custom down there.

When a woman has...

has relations with a man,

she shaves beforehand.

I still don't understand.

It's this: some of the men

had joined the rebellion.

However occasionally, they'd return to the village to...

And in checking the hair of the women,

they learnt who was there or who was going to be.

A reckoning system of comings-and-goings, one might say.

Please!

Was this France in Algeria?

During the German occupation,

during their roundups,

the SS

made men lower their trousers,

to find out which were Jews.

I would point out to the court that Captain Car on

immediately put an end to this practice,

which, by the way, was unique to Algeria.

Don't generalise from it.

Duly noted.

Several days later, perhaps because of that decision,

I can't say for sure, Captain Car on received

his first tip-off about the group

behind the Mechta Khampsa ambush.

He received a tip-off? Well...

Your Honour,

how does one receive

a tip-off?

There were some Algerians sympathetic to France.

Let's not forget this!

No, Your Honour,

let's continue our investigation,

slowly, step by step.

Marcel Car on only had 12 days to live.

12 days. - One night,

the captain had us go out.

Us, his Horde.

Halt!

Come on, hands in the air! Go and look further.

Come on, walk, now, for fuck's sake!

He was 16, 17 years old.

Little Bara, he was 17.

I myself have been in several wars, that of 1914-18, that of 1939-40...

But old man that I am,

the best of all was the Glières.

When we were with Tom,

Bara,

who was our little liaison officer,

we were defending our meadows, our bell towers,

our mountains, our pastures.

Thank you, sir.

What were Ben Rebaï, Si Amor, the combatants of the FLN doing?

There were defending their bell towers,

or at least their minarets,

their sheep pastures,

their rocks,

their soil!

Careful. Never confuse

the German occupation and the French presence in Algeria.

That would be dishonest,

an outrage, on your behalf, Gillard,

to Car on, to the whole Resistance.

The Jebel was not Vercors, nor the Glières.

I must respond that at that time,

Algeria was part of France.

And I affirm it...

not least for the thousands of French Muslims

who died on that soil and for the national soil

in 1914-18, in 1939-45,

and even

in 1870, in the Franco-Prussian War.

Mercenary troops date back to Rome.

Returned home,

the Algerian riflemen became once again "bougnouls",

second class citizens,

not full Frenchmen.

[Speaking Arabic].

He hasn't seen any Fellagas, but in my opinion, he's a lookout.

Captain,

for once we've nabbed a guy out here, at this hour,

he must be made to talk.

Schuster!

Stop that. Fish him out.

Why didn't you film that scene?

Because I didn't like it.

Ah, I can well imagine!

But in not filming it,

you weren't reporting the truth!

You covered up torture!

You lied by omission.

In the end, you were working for the army.

Yes.

No, nobody banned me from filming that scene.

Let me explain, sir...

I'm a child of the welfare system.

At 13, I ran away from the farm where they'd placed me.

It was the gendarmes who took me back.

And they beat me with their belts.

So, that kid...

No, in truth, I didn't like that.

If he talks and we hang the Fells,

he'll be the first one dead.

[Speaking Arabic]

He's seen the Fells. Up there, over the river.

Tell him we already know this.

[Speaks Arabic]. - How many were there?

Ten.

Ask him if he saw the French soldiers.

Tell him to be very precise here.

Si Amor showed him 3 in the village.

One was wounded,

one sick,

and one was okay.

Who is Si Amor?

He's the big leader

of the Fellagas, returned from Tunisia. - Yes, but who is he?

He was in the French Army.

I think he's told us all that he knows.

Leravo!

I got him! - Antomarchi's hit!

Frenchmen, don't shoot. Here's my right hand.

Drop your weapon!

Step forward.

Vignot! - Help me! You okay?

No, I'm not okay...

Chuck that there!

Hidalgo!

...is wounded.

One Fell killed. Another taken prisoner. Two rifles captured.

My glasses, my glasses...

Soleil asks if Antomarchi is badly wounded.

They're asking if it's bad!

Okay? Request an emergency evacuation.

Calling Soleil, this is the Red Horde. We need an emergency evacuation. Over.

Soleil is on it. Take the prisoner down.

They say to take the prisoner down.

That's not okay, they're nuts! Have them repeat it.

Repeat. Repeat about the prisoner!

Take the prisoner down.

They say...

That's it, he's passed out! - We have to take the prisoner down.

Take him down?

It's the truth.

I have to tell the truth. I heard him say it.

Captain Car on gave the order:

Drop him.

Regarding the responsibility

of Captain Car on on this exact issue,

do you have something to add, Counsel?

One moment, Your Honour.

He never mentioned this in a letter?

No.

Don't worry.

Your Honour,

we'd like to hear again from Mr. Minh on this point alone.

I was down below, in the wadi, with the command group,

with the captain.

Leravo?

Leravo, ask what's going on.

What's going on?

One Fell killed.

Two rifles captured.

Antomarchi wounded, one Fell killed, one captured,

and two rifles recovered.

Is it serious?

Is it serious?

Request emergency evacuation.

Request emergency evacuation.

The map! You're going to ask them for an evac chopper.

At 47.48.

Soleil is on it.

PC, PC to Black Horde...

Regarding the prisoner,

tell them to bring him to us.

We'll make him talk. We need to know the location of our 3 missing.

Bring him down to us. - Regarding the prisoner, take him down.

What was that? - Hold on.

What was that? - They took him down!

Who? - They took down the prisoner!

The morons...

We evacuated Antomarchi by helicopter and continued.

The pilot had signaled to us

that he'd seen some guys ahead of us,

further up the gorge.

Leravo, can you hear me?

Leravo, don't move.

Don't move, above all else! Try to reach the handset.

Slowly!

Don't move, don't move!

We'll get you out

of there, Leravo! Boileau!

We're going to lead them a merry dance!

Riton!

Dance.

Zik! Sweetheart!

Leravo?

Go ahead. They're not paying you any mind.

Call the trucks!

Tell them to come! Pronto!

Ho!

Two jerrycans!

A rope!

Stop! Some Fells up there are firing at us!

Over to you.

The handset, the handset!

Ho!

Maury! The radio!

Boileau!

Bring down what you find up there!

Does this work at least?

PC. PC of Black Horde.

PC of Black Horde. - Three dead!

Okay. I'm returning. Out. - Three rifles!

Come with me please.

Let the population come and identify these men.

All of you!

Listen up.

You must come and identify these men! Translate.

If you're clever, you'll bury them as good Muslims.

Yeah.

Moving on from that exhibition...

A few days later,

a suspect was arrested,

as the result of a raid.

There exists no trace

of this capture in the company's records.

At least,

in those we've been able to examine.

What became of this man?

His disappearance has been confirmed by the locals.

24 years later,

the fate of Ouari Moktar Ben Mohamed, the tailor,

remains unknown.

I'd like to know

if Messieurs Minh,

Schuster,

or Doctor Bama,

I'd like to know...

what they are aware of here,

what they know about it! - The Fells are bound to react.

We can expect the unexpected.

Remain vigilant.

Firstly:

double patrols, night ambushes.

Secondly...

we aren't just going to forget about our comrades held prisoner.

We must get more information.

Thirdly...

our enemy,

is him here!

Responsible for Mechta Khampsa.

Si Amor.

Alias Ahmed Ben Taïeb.

The same.

In Kabylie, in 1956.

Veteran of the 7th Rifle Regiment

Algerian, volunteered in 1942,

fought in Tunisia, fought in Italy, wounded at Cassino,

2 tours of Indochina, prisoner at Diên Biên Phu,

military medal.

Croix de guerre 1939-45 and TOE. Five citations.

If this man who rendered such service to France

had joined the FLN,

he must have had good reasons.

Undoubtedly!

Certainly! And...

respectable reasons...

If you pay hon our to Si Amor, you must do the same for Car on.

We are in a tragedy. In tragedy,

the two adversaries are of equal weight.

The Algerian War is a tragedy.

That's its grandeur...

and its horror.

The class had just started.

Valin, the instructor who'd replaced Antomarchi,

was blown to bits with 4 children.

Ahmed,

Moustapha,

Boualen and little Momo,

Mohamed, the cleverest of them all.

Catch!

Shut up, Moktar!

Come on, you bastard! - Stop shoving!

Moktar, you bastard!

A commander had arrived by helicopter.

The captain, chief Boileau and him

were holed up in the PC.

The light burned all night.

With Ouari Moktar, the tailor,

the light burned all night.

It's our contention

that the unfortunate tailor was locked up

all night in the PC,

with Captain Car on and the other two.

I don't remember.

You know, with Valin killed,

the children,

the women half-crazy,

the suspects...

maybe the tailor was choppered out with the injured kids.

I don't know.

You never saw the tailor again in the village?

No, that's true. His business remained closed.

Schuster, any details?

About the tailor? I've no idea.

The word was that he was local leader of the FLN.

A good catch.

However that it may not have been him who'd planted the bomb.

A Légion commander arrived,

a friend of the captain.

They were on familiar terms.

What I know,

is that the next day

we learnt that our comrades taken prisoner at Mechta Khampsa

were dead.

Liquidated.

And 2 days later,

we put two-thirds of the Si Amor gang six feet under.

A tip-off had been obtained.

How?

The light burned all night.

That same night, Ouari Moktar disappeared.

Three men against him.

Car on, dead.

Boileau, dead.

One survivor!

This famous commander of the Légion,

Mr Guillou.

I don't know his name. - He's one of our witnesses.

But before calling him to the stand,

I'd like to pause briefly,

to allow the court

to grasp the state of mind

Captain Car on must've been in, that night in his PC.

So far, we have relied on the memories of witnesses

with all that implies of involuntary selective memory, forgetfulness...

This time, it's Captain Caron's own voice

that you are going to hear.

The last words he addressed

to his wife, that fatal night,

having survived the attack.

The truth, as he saw it.

Listen.

Thank you.

"This morning, I'm exhausted.

You know I love the morning, but not this one.

I'm exhausted.

We're fighting a war of thugs, against thugs.

I've known for an hour they killed our 3 conscripts, our 3 prisoners.

One died of his wounds and mistreatment,

the other two were shot.

Yesterday, I lost Valin.

He was the replacement for Antomarchi at the school.

He was a firm believer in secular and compulsory education.

He believed in his mission as an instructor,

he believed man is born good.

We also lost 4 small boys of 10 years old.

One of them was that Mohamed I told you about, Momo.

Antomarchi said:

'This one is as smart as a monkey. With a little luck and some money,

we'll make him a normalien, or at worst a polytechnician.'

I haven't even mentioned all the wounded. We haven't caught the bastard

who planted the bomb.

I'm exhausted.

Last night, I was thinking about Lieutenant Tom from Glières

and my Captain in Vietnam.

What would they do in my place?

I almost regret not to have fallen there like my companions.

Only, I wouldn't have met you.

This morning, I'm exhausted, but I'm going to make them pay.

I've already set in train what it takes to do that.

I'll continue. I'll do what it takes.

Somebody has to take this load on his shoulders.

I'm having to take it today. It's my turn.

My men remain innocent.

And if one day, they face a reckoning, they'll be able to say:

'It was our captain.'

Why has the Republic abandoned us?

To think that at Arzew, I warned that they would have to face

their responsibilities alone...

It's one thing to give a lecture on the loneliness of leadership,

it's another to be alone,

completely alone.

Forgive the ramblings of this letter, but I'm exhausted, exhausted...

and with who can I share my doubts if not you?

I've done everything to which a soldier is accustomed,

and as for the rest,

I'll do what I can."

Yes.

It's obvious this was a man who'd reached the point of no-return.

The only thing we can say for sure,

Ouari Moktar disappeared that night.

♪? ♪

They were three.

Two are dead.

The third is here.

Mr Guillou!

That didn't concern me.

It wasn't part of my duties,

but belonged to the sector.

I commanded the rapid deployment force.

If I'm told the tailor was there, perhaps he was.

At the PC, the light burned all night.

If the light burned all night, it's because we were planning an operation.

We'd received information.

Information?

From who had you got it?

My role was only to make use of this information.

That was my responsibility. - By what channel had you got it?

The usual channel.

Sources weren't lacking in Algeria.

You're being evasive, Mr Guillou.

Too glib.

I say that Ouari Moktar was interrogated all night,

in Caron's HQ and he never got out of there alive.

You know this, you were there!

That's what you say. - Sir!

Did you get this information from Captain Car on?

Car on had sent some information to the sector.

So it was Car on who obtained it?

Some information

that had to be cross-checked with what we had from elsewhere.

Information that cost a man his life!

But nobody has confirmed

that this tailor was in the HQ that night

and that he gave the information.

It's all mere supposition. - A fact!

The tailor Ouari Moktar disappeared that night.

In admitting this fact,

doesn't it tell us that the tailor was freed with the other suspects

and his throat was slit by the rebels,

like Ben Rebaï might've been?

It was how Captain Car on worked.

Why say one thing and do another?

So that others get their hands dirty!

Yes, I see.

We've all learnt to appreciate

the realism of Captain Car on.

I say again, there's one fact!

The tailor Ouari Moktar disappeared that night.

Captain Car on said as leader he was responsible.

He is responsible.

Even more, he is solely responsible!

His direct superior, Colonel Garnier,

was deliberately kept in the dark.

I've never heard of this tailor.

My instructions were:

"In every case, don't touch a hair on the prisoner's head."

Violation of the physical or moral integrity of a human being

is to degrade oneself.

It's not up to us military to play judge and jury.

I know that at times

when the garbage men are on strike, we use the army.

For me, it's no solution.

The army has its mission,

the garbage men theirs.

Somebody has to remove the bins from the pavement...

The colonel has decided again to stop it all.

But I'm sure they're close, I can feel it.

I'm staying in the background.

Your Si Amor, this will force him to use his big tiger jaws to eat you!

You're playing the sheep!

Be aware, I don't want to lose more men!

And at that moment, I'll be back.

Fried rich!

Schuster! Minh!

Boileau...

Sliman! - Yes, Captain!

Ask her where the Fellagas are.

Well, what does she say? - That she's not seen them.

Boileau!

Put that fire out! - Lobbé! Put that out for me!

La Ficelle! The fireplace, quick!

Three rifles, cartridges and cash!

Hey!

There's even a radio in working order!

Get out quick!

This is a trap.

Schuster, Minh! We're moving!

Boileau, cover the rear!

Boileau!

Boileau, I'll cover you! - There's more down there!

Watch out!

Boileau's hit! He's hit!

I think he's dead!

Guillou?

Come in. Come in quick. We've caught the big fish.

Thanks to Car on and his Horde,

we had Si Amor's band trapped in a valley.

You've choppered in Légion companies to every ridge.

We've got them. - Yes. We've got them.

Was an order given to take no prisoners?

Yes. By me.

No quarter.

Colonel...

Garnier

knew about this command?

No.

I note, Your Honour,

no prisoners.

Taking prisoners is not an obligation.

In war, you can't suddenly say: "Bagsies not playing anymore."

If one accepts the surrender of an enemy, it's different.

Then you're responsible for him.

One doesn't have the right to humiliate him, to degrade him.

The FLN never let French prisoners live.

They killed them, mutilated them.

The few they kept for a while died of exhaustion.

It must be admitted conditions for them weren't easy.

"Except a lost battle,

I know of nothing sadder than a battle won."

Wellington after Waterloo.

There's some truth in that, but even so...

70 Fells wiped out,

that was something. We felt better, eh, afterwards?

Car on had all the same taken a prisoner that evening.

You don't interest me.

It's your rifle that interests me.

If they give you another one, I'll take it back.

If they give you still another one, I'll take that back too.

You don't interest me.

Let him go.

One should always leave one survivor to tell the Jebels what happened.

I want Si Amor to know we're not done with him.

Discipline being the overriding principle of armies,

etcetera, etcetera...

Commander Guillou and Captain Car on

defined this discipline with, to put it mildly,

some casualness.

In Algeria, certain subalterns

took upon themselves the right

to interpret orders from the hierarchy.

Hierarchy is a stairway

that allows the shit to be dumped on the lower rungs.

The hierarchy left us holding the baby,

the Gordian knot,

by saying: "Do what it takes. Try to untie it. We'll be watching."

We were left to work it out.

One doesn't respond to terror with nice words.

The FLN weren't content to kill,

they punished through torture.

I have here written orders, seized from the body of a rebel leader.

Mr Guillou...

you were sentenced

to 20 years in prison

for rebellion against the Republic

and participation in the OAS.

Commander Guillou, amnestied.

Restored to my rights, prerogatives and rank.

I'm in charge of the debate here!

I'm asking myself if this witness

is in any position to talk about terror!

That's not the question here!

Let's return, if you don't mind,

to the defamatory remarks of Professor Paulet.

Was there or was there not a felony?

Erm, a felony?

Yes.

Because the Republic,

the military hierarchy,

didn't entrust to Captain Car on,

their functionary Car on,

to citizens, to soldiers,

the right to enter without orders Tunisian territory.

Let's be serious, Your Honour,

Captain Car on was in pursuit of a rebel band

in a kind of no man's land,

an insecure zone.

He wasn't acting against the Republic.

He was defending it as best he could.

A soldier retains free will.

Professor Paulet has reminded us of that here.

A soldier is a servant of the state, indeed,

but a servant of the state that the Republic can require

to be killed under arms, to hon our his contract.

A crucial nuance.

And that morning, Captain Car on had only 48 hours to live.

Si Amor has gone over the border. We can't use your helicopters.

Let me go with my Horde.

We'll come back with the head of Si Amor. I promise you that.

Salem got him to talk. I know where to find him.

Okay. But not a word of this must leak out

and in no circumstances can you leave one of your guys behind.

You've only got 36 hours. After that, I can't cover for you.

Fried rich! - Yes, Commander?

Minh!

Get the Horde ready! Chop chop! - Yes, Captain! Come on!

Right...

From now on, no radio contact. Okay?

Okay. - Okay?

Okay.

Minh!

Minh!

What's this about the radio being down?

We were going into Tunisia, mustn't be seen nor heard.

Every radio transmission could be located by an electronic listening

station.

It wasn't' the Fells we were worried about,

but Colonel Garnier.

He would've had a lot of explaining to do.

Si Amor is staying there.

It's too late now.

We'll get them tomorrow at dawn. - Why at dawn?

If we didn't attack at dawn, half the Fells would slip away.

To get them, we had to see them.

Have you searched everywhere?

Count the bodies and the arms.

Yes, Captain.

Is Si Amor in there?

Is Si Amor in there? - Speaking Arabic.

Where is Si Amor?

Where is Si Amor?

He left his group and went back to Algeria.

The bastard...

Very well. He'll see. We're going back. - Si Amor had tricked us.

We'd let the prey go to chase the shadow.

We dumped the bodies

near a Tunisian border post and opened fire.

They replied. It was real display of fireworks.

Mortar and everything.

When the Tunisians found the result,

they inevitably found the bodies of the Fells.

That was how the Capitain wanted it. To make it look like an Algerian attack

so that in reply the Tunisians would attack them.

Let them fight it out.

Three months later, thanks to this action,

the rebel chief Si Amor was killed by the Tunisians

for harassing this post of theirs.

Captain Car on

knew it would end up thus.

He had in conscience decided the fate of his enemy.

When making this decision, I remind you, Your Honour,

that Captain Car on had only a few hours left to live.

Car on!

Si Amor has screwed you!

I go the impression that all of a sudden,

he'd had enough of ducking down.

It's true

that in war

with each bullet it's like we salute the enemy.

He's dead!

He's dead! He's dead!

He's dead! He's dead!

No pulse. No pulse.

There.

This is how,

18 days after taking command

of 2nd Company of the 423rd battalion

of Alpine infantry,

Captain Car on was dead.

Servant of the state Marcel Car on

had fulfilled his contract.

Killed by a man

he had himself already killed.

That is to say,

killed by a man condemned to death on probation.

Executioner?

Victim?

Victim? Executioner?

"Ecce homo". Behold the man.

It's difficult to bring judgment on a man of war,

far from the noise and fury of war.

Professor Paulet pronounced publicly

that the case of Captain Car on is exemplary.

This is true.

In all conscience,

I cannot see where this officer departed from the laws of war,

as they are commonly accepted.

Our opponent has made accusations

that he has failed to sustain.

I ask the court to condemn him,

for defamation,

to the symbolic Franc.

Counsel Gillard...

"Metal,

can be twisted,

iron can be melted,

then what can be done to a man

with a grievance?"

The last words spoken by Ouari Moktar,

the tailor who disappeared without trace.

Are they not,

Mr Guillou?

No, Your Honour.

The last words

of another condemned man,

of another combatant of the FLN,

guillotined,

in Algiers' prison.

"Metal can be twisted,

iron can be melted,

then what can be done to a man

with a grievance?"

A ghastly phrase

that could serve as the epitaph

for all the disappeared!

The case of Captain Car on

is exemplary.

The case of Ouari Moktar

is exemplary too!

But Captain Car on

claimed responsibility,

the entire responsibility,

of his command.

He is therefore responsible

for the fate of Ouari Moktar.

This is enough to justify

the statements of Professor Paulet.

I request

to the court

the pure and simple acquittal of my client!

The case is taken under advisement.

Ruling at 3pm.

You've achieved what you wanted.

You won. That's good.

Yes, we won.

Legally, we won.

Marcel won.

But...

what happened to that little tailor?

As things had turned out, we had to blacken our hands.

We had to clean up the trash, like the barrister said in the trial.

Because of that fucking war, we had to search for lice.

And for too long. - Lice?

You still made big waves with the OAS.

The Nation has the right to accept,

to reject, to disavow.

Oh yes, it's hard to take, but it's fair.

The Republic must remain virgin and innocent.

Grandmother can't be pushed too hard!

I regret nothing.

You stayed in the army. Maybe you had it right.

In any event, one must be left behind,

to recount the History of the Jebels.