Leap years usually mean a four year wait to celebrate the birthdays of Frank Woodley and Young Frederick (Pirates of Penzance) – not to mention the Olympics. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait that long to attend a recent media screening on 29th Feb of ‘REBELLION’, the new film from lauded French director and actor, Mathieu Kassovitz.
High expectations for this film were held and they were pretty much exceeded.
‘REBELLION’ succinctly and dramatically retells the story of a famous, yet bloody affair which occurred in New Caledonia in April/May 1988.
Ouvéa Island in the French colony becomes the setting for the kidnap of 30 policemen by Kanak separatists. 300 French special-forces operatives are then sent to restore order.
Two men face off: Philippe Legorjus, captain of the GIGN, an elite counter-terrorism police unit,
and Alphonse Dianou, the rebels' leader. They attempt to find a peaceful solution based on common values and dialogue. Against the backdrop of presidential elections in France, the political stakes are high, and order is not necessarily a moral question.Mathieu Kassovitz has an amazing ability to distill and combine complex events as well as 'big picture' social and political themes into a format that audiences can easily digest and relate to. Somehow he manages to marry this with the immediacy of the 'micro' environment within which the characters and their story sit. The relationship between Capitaine du GIGN Philippe Legorjus and Alphonse Dianou, the rebels' leader, is keenly observed and portrayed – as are the complex relationships Legorjus must contend with as he desperately tries to raise dialogue between the rebels, the army, French government officials and FLNKS (Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste).
The pacing of the ‘REBELLION’ story is pitch perfect – it’s a thoroughly satisfying film from Kassovitz, who may be remembered by Australian audiences as the toyman who makes bombs in ‘MUNICH’. In this film he is also actor, writer and producer as well as director.
While an absorbing account, concerns noted are the length of the picture and the amount of information to be digested at the start of the film (which may prove exhausting for anyone not used to reading English sub-titles on screen). I watch a lot of foreign films and it was the first time I noticed I was reading subtitles and perhaps missing out on the stunning visuals on the screen which announce the films setting.
SCREENING DETAILS ARE YET TO BE ANNOUNCED.
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Sean McIntyre attended the media screening of ‘REBELLION’ courtesy of its Australian distributor Jump Street Films (www.jumpstreetfilms.com.au) at Cinema Nova. Interviews with the filmmakers will be published on www.wisewords.com.au.
Jump Street Films is also behind the Richard Gray’s new Australian film ‘BLINDER’ currently shooting in Torquay, Victoria and Boston, USA.
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Nord-Ouest presents
Mathieu Kassovitz and Iabe Lapacas
REBELLION (aka L’ORDRE ET LA MORALE)
A film by Mathieu Kassovitz
Script Mathieu Kassovitz – Pierre Geller – Benoît Jaubert
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