Final chord “The worst profession in our business is the director, of course, not counting the artists,” the producer is indignant, and he can be understood. Henri Lanverne (Perrin) set up the team, and in fact screwed up the whole case: instead of filming a film in Thailand, for some reason, he went to Laos, where he was caught by Vietnamese counterintelligence and accused of espionage. The Vietnamese take him for a super agent, and a journalist from the entertainment department (Darel), on the instructions of the editor (Rish), turns into a “serious journalist” and begins an investigation.
It’s like a comedy or a spy thriller — no, in this case it’s serious and slow, like Schöndorfer usually does. There will be no shooting, the action will proceed slowly, in quite cozy Paris of the 1980s, the jungle will appear only in the form of a black and white chronicle. Although - the correspondent will receive his dose of Alice in Wonderland, for which the opening picture will be all wonders and wonders, and even a personal Cheshire cat in the form of Colonel Duby (Kremer) - a former saboteur and current intriguer and manipulator.
The film about the director, lost in the jungle, was the last career of director Pierre Schöndorfer, whose most famous films are devoted to the war in the jungles of Indochina. And Perrin in his youth had a portrait resemblance to Schöndorfer - also in his youth. So, fans of non-random parallels can be satisfied.
However, Schöndorfer himself abundantly scatters parallels, constantly quoting himself. Footage from old films, working materials for old films, front-line chronicle, which also once shot himself, in the same Indochina. The same actors: I want to say that “Kremer” already died in that war, “Schovel” too, then “Kremer” died again, after the war, and “Perrin” survived – before that, the truth also died, only in Algeria. Last time, Chauvel did not have a French medal, but a Hero of the Soviet Union star. Cure, when he was a sailor (that's by the way and the footage) had a different surname. Films do not form a cross-cutting plot, they can be watched in any order, but as you look at this recognition effect, of course, accumulates, the benefit on the screens is the same Indochina war.
Did the maestro himself realize this effect? No doubt. The director gives the impression of a person who, without overtaking himself with significance, was clearly not as simple as it seems, and besides, he was perfectly aware of who and what he was saying. Valuable quality for both a frontline documentary filmmaker and a right-wing conservative filmmaker in a left-liberal country. And almost the only one of its kind “translator from right to left”. Want to understand France beyond the standard tourist set of croissant, Disneyland (Parisian, of course) and Charlie Hebdo – perhaps here you go.
The topics discussed are the same as always. As the cure says, “Of all the creations of the Lord, man is the most mysterious.” No matter how far we throw the probe, depth cannot be measured.”
There is an opinion that compared to the rest of the director’s films, this looks weaker and that the maestro did not squeeze and reach for himself at the best of times. Kremer-Dubai is not as brutal as Kremer-Wlsdorf in “317 platoon”, bullets overhead do not whistle (although in black and white flashback Lanvern shows quite clearly how it happens), and Alice in the army mirror was already in “Captain’s Honor”. Maybe. However, in absolute terms, the film is good and quite worthy of viewing.
6.5 out of 10