Product Description

Algeria, 1959. Military operations are being stepped up. High in the mountains of Kabylia, Terrien (Benoît MAGIMEL), an idealistic lieutenant takes over the command of a platoon at a French army outpost. Here he meets Dougnac (Albert DUPONTEL), a cynical sergeant. Their differences and the harsh realities in the field drive the two men to the breaking point. Lost in an undeclared war, they discover that their worst enemy is themselves. From acclaimed director Florent Emilio Siri (Hostage), Intimate Enemies is a visually stunning war epic which shows the true brutality and horrors of war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3170 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 105 minutes

Synopsis
Florent Emilio Siri wrote and directed this engrossing French drama which follows a French platoon during the Algerian War of Independence of 1954-1962. The film gives a more personal account of the devastating conflict; unflinchingly exposing the complex morality of the strategies used, and highlighting the psychological effect on the soldiers involved.

Customer Reviews

As good as Platoon
This engaging film is based on a novel by Patrick Rotman. Intimate Enemies (L'Ennemi Intime) is the powerful appealing story of a young soldier's coming-of-age during the French/Algerian War at the end of the 1950's.

The quite young and idealistic professional soldier, Lt. Terrien (Benoit Magimel), volunteers to serve in a war fought mostly by conscripts. He is posted to a remote, and beautiful, mountain territory, taking command over a platoon run by the cynical and much more experienced sergeant Dougnac (Albert Dopontel). Their differences combine with the harsh realities of the battlefield and this drives the two men to breaking point.

The production is absolutely stunning, underscored with beautifully haunting music (also available on CD and recommended). Several spectacular battle sequences highlight the picture but they only serve to make the story more intimate, thus the complexities of characters and their roles during this dark moment in French history can be brought to the fore.

Contre les fellaghas
Set in the Kabyle mountains of Algeria this excellently made war film certainly pulls no punches. The extreme volence of the FLN and of some of the French begins to seep into the soul of our hero - young Lt Terrien. The film does not flinch from showing the slaughter by the fellaghas, the torture of prisoners by the French, and the scene of the napalm attack and its results are some of the most powerful that I have seen. In the end, trapped between the millstones of the Revolution and the French Republic is is hardly surprising so many of the individuals are ground to powder. The eventual fate of our hero is perhaps the least believable part of the film but it does not prevent this being a film with an impact. It avoids the usual temptations of vilifying one side or the other. It just leaves a great feeling of waste.

Problem with subtitles on bonus disc
There are some nice, informative extras on the bonus disc that comes with this film. Unfortunately, most of them are in French and the disc won't let you select the English subtitles!

To play the extras with subs you need a dvd player capable of ignoring prohibited user operations - a modded xbox worked for me.

The main feature does not have this problem and is well worth watching.
4 stars for the movie, minus 1 for the "hidden" subs.