Manic authenticity How do we understand the difference between a person’s spiritual path and his selfish need for control, superiority, and power—or the inclinations prompted by instincts and internalized norms of society? Is there some attraction beyond the control of reason, a kind of grace that calls everyone to his own path, which gives awareness of what is happening, mercy and purpose in life... or is it only for us to choose this path?
Jacques Verges is perhaps the most “deserved” lawyer among the independence fighters. A man who defended Algerian separatists and Pakistani terrorists, the Khmer Rouge and some African dictators. Many years later, we have a nice-looking old man with a devil in his eyes, not without irony, reporting the facts of his biography, balancing on the principle of “not to say too much, but not to hide too much.” And here are his former clients, many of whom became friends, but lost in different corners of a relatively quiet world. They do not hide the mechanisms of their war and without shame tell about once victorious deeds. Salot Sar, aka Pol Pot, who is also an adherent of the politics of the possible, remembers communication with Verges only on a friendly note, and the events of days long ago flash into memory, as if they were last Thursday. But still their exploits are only in memory, and Verges as if out of time is strikingly fresh and still adventurous.
The director of the film is Swiss German Barbet Schroeder, not only that the winner of the Cesar Prize, but also a specialist in the study of figures with, to put it mildly, a tarnished reputation, who presented in the last century a film about the Ugandan ruler General Idi Amin Dada, who also made many holes in history. Shooting a picture about a man with more than a rich life, Schroeder fell into a natural trap, because it is impossible to fit such a multilayered historical layer in a modest 2 hours of screen time. It turns out that it is almost impossible to understand who is who from the first time, especially in the second hour, when faces, surnames and dates change at such a speed that you want to slow down the reproduction yourself. But when you have the courage to watch again, you put everything in its place. So sharply and unceremoniously to shift the center of the narrative in the direction of Europe – we can recognize the forced crime of the director, who perfectly managed to cut off the unprepared viewer. Perhaps this was the bet, because the “Algerian-French” events are not widely known, and not so much because they are affairs of days gone by, but because of a disdainful attitude to the unrest that swept the colonial countries of West Africa and smoothly passed into the heart of Europe. We need to think about civilization!
I remember all these conversations about my role in the fate of Jamili Buhired. I remember them making me laugh, but I can't say I was completely sure of her release. And for me, France is not colonists at all, if only because I was born in a city famous for repressive terror, and I felt a real life when I went to the front at the age of 17. I have a French name, but I will always be different from a typical Frenchman. Perhaps I was more appropriate for Algeria, and I was immediately able to gain success from the employers who were guilty before the law. You know, I hear all the time about the Khmer Rouge and my involvement in those events, but somehow everyone forgot that their atrocities were exaggerated, there were no millions of victims. Yes, there were repressions, there were clashes, but where were they not? I understand and understand the Algerian struggle. I didn't. I'm close to her. The authorities only saw me as a traitor, but I could not have done otherwise at these murder meetings. I had been hatching my own revolution for years, and it took me that long. I spent 8 years without too many eyes — not on the moon, but among people who are as secretive as I am. I continue to be called an advocate of destructive defense, recalling again the most resounding victory - the liberation of Jamili - the true face of Algeria and the revolution, the symbol of struggle.