La Guerre sans nom. - movie reviews

National Review, June 7, 1993 by John Simon

Show only at the Human Rights Watch Festival in New York, Bertrand Tanernier's 1991 TV documentary, La Guerre sans nom (The Undeclared War, but also, may never be in public release here, so only brief mention of this sublime and shattering film seems warranted. Modeling himself on Marcel Ophul's The Sorrow and the Pity, Tavernier picked a single city - Grenoble - and interviewed at great length several men (and, more succintly, two women) whose lives were affected by the never officially recognized eight-year war that cost France, besides Algeria, some thirty thousand dead and tens of thousands of physically or mentally injured. The exact figures were never released by the French government, and though some of the maimed received financial help, full compensation was never granted. This was, after all, not a declared war.

Tavernier limits himself of showing the faces of those he and his associate interviewed, and sometimes a bit of their immediate sorroundings. Also occasional shots of Grenoble and the relevant Algeria landscapes. Further, snapshots, taken by these men, or of them by companions in arms. Save for a few explanatory words, Tavernier lets the men speak for themeselves. There is no commentary from other sources, but their answers are often presented in such a way as to corroborate, elaborate on, or dispute what another of them has said. The result is four hours that are moving, funny, horrible, and absolutely riveting.

There is more here about war and peace, nobility and stupidity, men's strength and weaknesses than in almost anything else I have ever seen. Strong men who have not talked about their experiences even to their families now do to the camera. Someone asks whether he has to reveal all, and, urged to do so, gets all choked up and has to make a fresh start. Some men weep. Some don't, but you can see what thirty years of wrestling with unquellable memories has cost them. Some have learned awesome lessons; some nothing. In the end, you find out what each of these men does in civilian life and how his social position colors his views. Without voicing a single opinion, Tevernier gives you a seminar in history. Also in living.