OSS 117: Le Caire nid d’espions (2006) - film review

In 1955, Cairo is a hornet’s nest of political intrigue, with several countries fighting for their vested interests.  When one of his government agents is killed in the Egyptian capital, the French President sends a replacement in the form of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, code name OSS 117.  On what may prove to be his most dangerous assignment yet, this legendary agent has to contend with the family of a deposed king and an ambitious religious sect.  Luckily, he has the beautiful Larmina to help him...

If you are going to parody a much-loved genre this is the way to do it.  OSS 117: Le Caire nid d’espions is such a convincing pastiche of the spy thrillers that dominated mainstream cinema in the early 1960s that you could almost swear it was unearthed from a time capsule.  Not only does it perfectly capture the mores and attitudes of the era (including some political incorrectness that is now positively shocking) but it exactly reproduces the look and feel of these old spy films, including the slightly faded colour tint, a surfeit of erotic clichés and some hideous use of back projection.  But this is far from being a straightforward send-up of an old genre, intended merely to entertain and sate our nostalgia lust.  It is one of the first film made in France in which the country faces up to its colonial past and admits, with uncharacteristic Gallic candour: yes, it was pretty appalling, wasn’t it?

Coming in the wake of the doomed Iraq war and during what looks like being an equally misguided adventure in Afghanistan, the film has a particular resonance for today’s audience with its far from flattering portrayal of how the West treats other cultures and ethnic types.  The hero, special agent OSS 117, is the epitome of the culturally and racially ignorant westerner, the kind of man who, whilst exuding an air of smug superiority, still thinks Egypt is ruled by pharaohs and who and doesn’t think twice about socking a Muezzin in the jaw so that his beauty sleep isn’t disturbed by the dawn call to prayers.  What at first appears to be an outrageous spoof rapidly acquires a horrible ring of truth when you pause and reflect on recent attempts by the West to civilise the rest of the world.  This film leaves us in no doubt as to who the real barbarians are in our fragmented and culturally diverse world.

Originally, in the novels written by Jean Bruce, OSS 117 was an American agent, working for the OSS, the intelligence gathering department that preceded the CIA.  The character appeared in a series of hugely popular French films in the 1950s and 60s, ultimately ending up as France’s answer to James Bond.  In this latest incarnation, the indestructible secret agent is played by rising star Jean Dujardin practically as a Sean Connery look-alike.  Dujardin has great fun emulating some of Connery’s trademark 007 mannerisms (notably the humorous eyebrow twitching, which says more than any amount of dialogue).   There’s absolutely no attempt to conceal the fact that Dujardin’s portrayal is meant to be a Bond rip-off – even the film’s trailer says as much with its quip: "OSS 117, un peu de Sean, beaucoup de conneries..."   Fast-moving, witty and deliciously ironic, this is probably the best parody of a James Bond film that you will ever see.  It is certainly the funniest.

© James Travers 2010

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