Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès (1972)
Dir: René Vautier Drama / War
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Overview
Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès is a French war film first released in 1972,
directed by René Vautier.
The film stars Alexandre Arcady, Hamid Djellouli, Philippe Léotard, Jacques Canselier and Jean-Michel Ribes.
It has also been released under the title: To Be Twenty in the Aures.
Our overall rating for this film is: good.
Synopsis
In 1961, a group of pacifist Bretons are sent to fight in France’s war against Algeria.
Reluctant warriors, they are moulded into killing machines by the inspirational lieutenant
Perrin and soon find their first taste of conflict. One of the group continues to
rebel against the folly of the war and goes on the run with an Algerian prisoner.
For all concerned, the experience will not be easily forgotten – for those that survive,
that is...
Film Review
With this documentary-style drama, militant director René Vautier offers a chilling
testimony of the Algerian War and also makes an unequivocal attack on the French government
which allowed it to happen. The film’s language is unmistakably – and justifiably
- hostile towards the leaders who led their country into an avoidable armed conflict against
Algeria but it is equally a powerful anti-war film in a much wider sense.
Although somewhat rough and ready in both its filming and its acting, Avoir 20 ans
dans les Aurès is a film which manages to convey the pointlessness, injustice,
horror and stupidity of war, with a raw poetry which inspires some moments of painful
reflection.
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Credits
Similar films:
If you like this film you may also like the following: L’Armée des ombres (1969) Le Caporal épinglé (1962) Les Carabiniers (1963) La Grande vadrouille (1966) Les Honneurs de la guerre (1960) Jeux interdits (1952) Monsieur Klein (1976) Papy fait de la résistance (1983) Le Roi de coeur (1966) Un acte d’amour (1953) Un condamné à mort s’est échappé (1956) Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1960) La Vache et le prisonnier (1959) La Vie et rien d’autre (1989) |

