La Guerre sans nom (1992) - film review

In this documentary, Patrick Rotman interviews around thirty former French combatants of the Algerian War and allows them to tell their own story of a conflict that lasted eight years and ended in a humiliating defeat for France.  For most of the interviewees, this is the first time they have spoken about the war, and some are still evidently trying to cope with the consequences of what they had to endure thirty years ago...

The most striking thing about the Algerian War (1954-1962) is the reluctance of the French nation to talk about it, or even to accept that it took place.  Heavy handed government censorship at the time of the war severely restricted reports of the Algerian conflict on television and prevented filmmakers from broaching the subject, with the result that most of the population was ignorant of what was taking place and indifferent on the subject.  It was not until 1999, almost forty years after hostilities ended in Algeria that the French state finally acknowledged that it had been a war and not, as had previously been insisted upon, just a peace-keeping operation.  To commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the war, Bertrand Tavernier and Patrick Rotman made this landmark documentary so that an important part of French history, and a shameful one at that, would not be totally forgotten or re-invented to favour the military and the political elite.

La Guerre sans nom takes its inspiration from Marcel Ophüls’s acclaimed documentary Le Chagrin et la pitié (1969), which shed considerable light on France’s humiliating period of occupation during the Second World War.  All of the contributors (thirty or so) are French veterans of the Algerian War from the town of Grenoble, the location of one of the fiercest anti-war riots during the conflict.  All were conscripts or reservists who were profoundly affected by the war, and most are visibly talking about the war for the first time since their return to civilian life.  Their feelings about the war cover the entire spectrum of views - some claim that it had a beneficial effect on their lives and were proud to serve under the French flag for a just cause; others are clearly scarred for life and are ashamed to have participated in such an ill-judged and hopeless colonialist adventure.  To their credit, Tavernier and Rotman avoid making a political point (other than to drive home the futility and injustice of war), but instead merely record the precious memories of their interviewees so that the Algerian War can at last have a voice as well as a name.

At four hours in length (Tavernier and Rotman recorded fifty hours of interviews), La Guerre sans nom would at first appear to be a challenge.  Yet, it is a film that grabs the attention right from the start and once you are hooked, you are hooked right until the end.  It is not just the subject matter that makes this such a compelling film, it is also the candour shown by the participants, their willingness to talk openly and sincerely about the most traumatic period of their lives, that holds the spectator spellbound.  And some of what we see and hear is genuinely moving.  Time and again, Rotman is obliged to stop the recording when his interviewees falter and come close to breaking down in tears.  It is apparent that the psychological scars are still there, that some of the memories are just too difficult to bring back.  Facing the past and accepting what has happened is just too painful, even after thirty years.  These are, after all, men who, as young conscripts, had to live with the fear of a brutal death by bomb or bullet and who saw many of their comrades killed or mutiliated in battle.

The film intersperses interviews with photographs taken by the contributors during their time in Algeria.  A deeply personal account of the war, it reminds us of the horrors of war, but also conveys a sense of the camaraderie and the almost unbearable ennui, the long periods of waiting between terrifying bursts of activity.   On the question of torture, some are adamant that they saw no sign of this being practiced on the French side, whilst others give fulsome accounts of torture being used against the Algerian population on a regular basis, and some are still deeply traumatised by what they witnessed.  One conscientious objector gives a harrowing description of how he was ill-treated by the military, whilst others recall the mutinous outrage felt when officers gave orders for ill-considered manoeuvres that resulted in large numbers of casualties.  There are coy allusions to BMCs (Bordels Militaire de Campagne), which catered for the soldiers’ carnal needs when returning from a military engagement, and horrifically graphic accounts of killings and mutilations practiced by the FLN.

The most moving part of the film comes towards its end, when the contributors express their anguish when France declared its ceasefire and recount their subsequent painful readjustment to civilian life.  The futility of the eight years of conflict, in which three million young Frenchmen (mostly conscripts in their early twenties) risked their lives and almost thirty thousand died, resonates in the testimonies of at least half of the interviewees.  Either physically maimed for life or suffering severe psychological problems, many found it hard to resume their domestic lives and find work.  Some even contemplated suicide.  There was little support from the state, partly because the state was adamant that the combatants had not served in a war and therefore did not merit the same level of support as veterans of previous wars.   The Algerian War would cast a long shadow over the lives of all who participated in it, and it is right that we should at last hear their story.  A generation that was so badly used by its political leaders, casually sacrificed in a hopeless attempt to hold back the tides of time, deserves to be heard.  If today’s politicians can heed their words and gain a greater appreciation of the human cost of war, their ordeal will not have been in vain, the folly that was the Algerian War will have taught us something.

© James Travers 2012

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?