Les centurions

I watched this out of interest to see how the French experience of Dien Bien Phu might be portrayed, but this was only a small part of the film, and that dissappointment carried on for the whole film. This is another of those generic war films where the tactics are unrealistic to the point of idiocy, the kit and equipment is whatever comes to hand rather than attempting anything but the vaguest way, and the story is fairly daft too. Only worth watching for the novelty value of its subject matter,

The more honored documentary like film, The Battle for Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo is considered the last cinema word on the subject of the title and this film is often overlooked. Yet Lost Command has a lot to recommend it and it's a pity it doesn't get more acclaim than it does.

This is a retelling of a part of the Algerian War for Independence which ate like a cancer at the French body politic. For reasons best left to French historians, the Fourth Republic of France when it was created after World War II, decided to reassert it's sovereignty over its colonial possessions. France was then involved with a whole lot of brushfire wars in its colonies.

The film opens actually in French Indochina at the Battle of Dienbienphu where the French got themselves surrounded and the guerrillas they had been fighting for years came out in the open. Among others surrendering was Anthony Quinn's regiment of paratroopers which included the unit historian Alain Delon and George Segal an Algerian Moslem serving in the French army.

Quinn is a tough and charismatic leader of his troops who's risen up through the ranks to become a Lieutenant Colonel. He's not got any family connections, but he's not above making a few of his own by romancing the widow of his commander Michelle Morgan to get out of the doghouse he's found himself in. The French army as in the days of Dreyfus is looking for scapegoats for Dienbienphu.

Quinn gets command of a new unit of paratroopers assigned to Algeria and upon getting there finds his old comrade Segal now thoroughly radicalized and fighting for independence. Quinn sees an opportunity for promotion and a chance to clear himself if he does a good job in Algeria. Delon is horrified by the brutality of the war on both sides, even more so when he's made a fool of by Claudia Cardinale who is Segal's sister and seduces him into allowing her access to the French command headquarters.

Though the French gave independence to their other African colonies like French West and French Equatorial Africa and Tunisia and Morocco, for some reason they wanted to hang on in Algeria. In their minds they deluded themselves into thinking that it was part of metropolitan France. After the action in this film concludes, the Fifth Republic was formed and Charles DeGaulle returned to power for the express reason of dealing with the bloody war in Algeria. Only DeGaulle had the prestige and clout to get the French to quit Algeria. It was a personal and political risky position to take as DeGaulle soon found out. Time has proved the wisdom of what DeGaulle did.

In a way all of the leading characters either get what they want or are proved right. You'll have to see the film to get my meaning.

The film was shot in Spain which served as Algeria. The battle scenes are excellently done and the players are all well cast. By all means catch this film if it is shown on television.

Currently a lot of rear echelon commandoes have denigrated the French for not being grateful lapdogs usually with asides about how they folded in WW2, had to be rescued, etc etc. If the brain dead actually read they would've learned that far from being the walkovers these "jokesters" portray the French soldier was and is just as courageous as his ancestors were in the wars of Europe and the quest for empire. This movie is a spirited reminder of that. Anthony Quinn as the peasant born French para officer has to fight the military politics as well as the armed enemy first at the doomed fort of Dienbienphu and later in Algeria. He's playing for keeps and he and his officers are going to to be ruthless. Good battle scenes and the luscious Claudia Cardinale make this a see it anytime movie for me.

Remember that Henry Fonda movie THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE ? That`s the war movie that was set in the fog shrouded snow bound forests of the Ardennes in December 1944 but for some reason the movie`s big set piece battle takes place on an arid desert plain . LOST COMMAND starts with a very similar error in geography involving the battle of Dien Bien Phu where the French built a heavily fortified base in the middle of a mountainous jungle in 1954 , except this film would have us believe that the battle took place in the middle of a desert !

But I`m more than willing to forgive this goof as LOST COMMAND is a good film , it`s maybe not a great film but if you like action adventure / war films you`ll hopefully enjoy this as much as I did and director / Producer Mark Robson should be congratulated for making a film showing the French fighting man in a good light . Say what you like about French political leaders but France does have a long noble military tradition with a glorious defeat being every bit as courageous as a glorious victory . But the screenplay doesn`t glorify conflict and rightly points out that violence breeds violence , it pits former friends against one another , and it`s always the most innocent who suffer the most

Unusual in that the terrorists are the French soldiers and not the natives of the occupied country. Well worth a watch but far less exciting than it should have been. It could have done with being a lot more gritty and the French soldiers not looking like they were constantly on parade and not on dangerous active duty.