Captifs

The fact that I have seen quite a few movies, not only with a similar story(line) as this one, does not help while watching it. The fact, that it tries to be earnest and thinks of itself as serious psycho-thriller add to the odd feeling that something has gone terribly wrong. It is neither as great as it thinks it is nor is it simple romp. It is somewhere in between.

It tries hard to please to groups of people. The people who like to have a heart and mind to those types of movies, but also the people who like the horror and terror in that situation. Unfortunately the characters are not fleshed out enough (no pun intended) for this to happen. A little bit more of a back-story would have been helpful. But then again this might have been bad for those who were just waiting for the "juicy" parts.

The matter that is being handled here, does deserve a better movie (imo). A shame that this movie does not handle it as it should

The film starts in Yugoslavia, crosses borders into Kosovo and ends at the back of a UN jeep.

War is perpetual. That is obvious and that is also the message in a cage where there is no mercy, no compassion or respect for life when the rush of war takes over. It is an imperative that it be so, such is the obstinate nature of war and 'Captifs'.

Director Yaan Gozlan's first feature length moves you with atmosphere, sound and baffling and hypnotic camera work. sometimes it moves you inside out and you can also watch it happening (derealisation in films).

'Captifs' is like a kid casually telling a story and suddenly everything gets very serious, extremely uncomfortable and horrific. Some scenes make you want to look away, but you don't; such is the pull of this film.

The film has it's faults but I'd rather stick to the film as whole; I'd rather tell you the good and you figure the bad for yourself, or maybe not. That's why.

In the end it is, in my opinion, telling you how it feels to be at war. How it must feel to not be forgiven, to see madness in the oppressor's eye and then, eventually to start relating to the look.

It left something back. Something that cannot be shed or shaken off.

If you like this movie, you should also watch a movie where band of jewish soldiers capture german civilians during WW2, takes them in the working camp and at the end kills them in the gas chamber while jewish doctors do experiments on them.

Albanians were convicted of kidnapping Serbs and taking organs. Then they create a movie where they portray the victim as the culprit. Classic hate speech.

In the former Yugoslavia, the French medical team formed by Carole (Zoé Félix), Samir (Arié Elmaleh) and Dr. Mathias (Eric Savin) is returning from Kosovo to Paris by truck. They find a road block and the soldier tells that the army had found mines on the road and is deactivating them; therefore they should wait three hours to follow their journey.

Dr. Mathias suggests Carole to drive through a secondary road and they get lost. They ask for direction in an isolated house and sooner a van intercepts their truck in a lonely road. They are abducted and arrested in dirty cells but fed. When Samir is removed from the cell, they find the true intention of the kidnappers.

I do not know how many movies similar to "Captifs" that I have recently seen. Only in Brazil, three different films have been released with the same Brazilian title in the last years ("Captivity" (2007); "Captifs" (2010); and "Open House" (2010)). I was discussing with a friend of mine about the lack of new ideas and screenplays in the cinema industry, reason why for so many remakes and films with the same storyline.

Back to "Captifs", despite the well-known storyline, the film has good acting, make-up and keeps the tension until the very last scene. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cativeiro" ("The Captivity")