The short season of films by French director Bertrand Tavernier continues with the first showing on network television of his controversial latest film, La Guerre sans nom.
Tavernier and Patrick Rotman have filmed a series of extraordinary, moving interviews with some of the 2.7 million Frenchmen conscripted to fight in the Algerian War (1954-62). Regarded by the French government as a "peace-keeping action", this undeclared war caused more than one million deaths and brought France to the brink of civil war and military takeover. For many of the men interviewed, this was the only opportunity they have had in 30 years to talk about their experiences and the film illuminates the everyday experiences of young men whose lives were changed irrevocably by a war they had no power to influence. In French with English subtitles, this film runs for almost four hours.
FILMS: pages 46-56
(The Bertrand Tavernier season continues with "Life and Nothing But" on Monday at 10.30pm)