Nada (1974)
Directed by Claude Chabrol

Film Review

Coming towards the end of Claude Chabrol's second gold run of films, which ran from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, Nada stands out as something of an oddity - a mix of political thriller and black comedy which has a far darker, far more ironic edge than anything Chabrol directed in this, arguably his best, era.  Based on a popular série noire novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, the film reflects both the public's growing appetite for grimly realistic action thrillers and the perceived threat from increasingly militant leftwing activists.

Whereas Chabrol's previous populist thrillers - Le Tigre aime la chair fraiche (1964) and its equally bland sequel - stuck to a tried and tested formula to maximise audience size and consequently had virtually no intellectual merit, Nada looks like a conventional thriller but is one with an underlying political subtext, and a potent one at that.  In fact, this is possibly Chabrol's most overtly political film, and certainly one of his most scathing satires on contemporary society.  One of the concerns shared by many people at the time was the extent to which the State would go to maintain an ordered society.  As was reflected in the neo-polar novels and films of the period, there was a belief that the police would transcend moral boundaries, with the complicity of wealthy businessmen and legislators, to safeguard the interests of those who most benefited from maintaining the status quo (coincidentally, wealthy businessmen and legislators). 

In Nada, the ragtag band of fair weather terrorists find themselves pitted against an insuperable enemy, professional State-sponsored terrorists in the guise of the police.  The outcome is certain - the Nada group is obliterated with ruthless efficiency, their message and threat totally neutralised (well, almost).  Those that perform this necessary clean-up operation are themselves revealed to be pawns in a wider political game and end up no better off.  The true villains are not the police, but the mandarins sitting at the apex of our supposedly benign democratic system, the unseen guardians whose job it is to protect us - from ourselves.   Watching the film today, when the threat of terrorism is omnipresent, the film is as relevant as when it was first released (perhaps more so).  Who should we fear most - homicidal extremists made of clay or those god-like protectors in palaces of state who sit in judgement over us all?  The answer is self-evident.  We should fear both.

Film Synopsis

Nada is a small leftwing terrorist group made up of six people from very different backgrounds.   Diaz, the most militant of the group, plans to kidnap the American ambassador Richard Poindexter, in a bid to draw attention to their cause.  One of the group, Treuffais, a timid philosophy teacher, will have no part in this and walks away.  His five comrades succeed in spiriting Poindexter away to a remote farmhouse.  Unfortunately for them, the police chief who is assigned to the case sees the elimination of the terrorists as having much greater priority than rescuing the ambassador...