L'intervention

Based on true events that took place in February 1976. Somali rebels hijack a school bus carrying 21 French children and their teacher in the city of Djibouti. Newly created elite French forces (GIGN) are sent. At date they were somewhat ridiculed and viewed with disbelief. With this mission they prove their value in tactical special missions and today they are one of the most reputable police forces in France.

The film is good, managing to escape the trap of being too documentary. With good cinematography, a humorous and not overly dramatic script.

It works well not only from a historical point of view, but also as a modern and actual action thriller.

I recommend.

Reading the reviews I was expecting much worse... Solid & realistic action film describing a real event. Probably less explosions and pyrotechnics than in an American film of this genre but it did not take away anything in terms of suspense and drama. The seventies feel and a certain level of amateurism of policing is quite well depicted.

I would have love to give this film a higher rating as I am a fan of elite and special forces movies. However the movie gets off to a very slow start and really only the last 15 minutes of the movie justify the rating it received. But the last 15 minutes are so fast and so furious and so gripping that it actually made watching the rest of the film worthwhile.

Don't get me wrong, the movie is gripping, but seems the director/writer did not want to get into the muddy motivation of the bad guys. The hostage takers always cut short to state their experience with colonial "powers". We see the horror of children as hostages, but never shown the horrors of Djibouti children under occupation - which is the motive behind the saga. Welcome to 2019!

If you are expecting a Marvel Movie then this isn't for you. This is a very "Munich" or " Argo" like movie with a long, slow buildup, and tells a story from another time along the lines of "siege of jadotville", all of which I was spellbound by. Probably won't be enough artificial sweetener CGI to entertain most people, but I certainly couldn't stop watching ( and reading - subtitles ). I rate it highly.