L'Ordre et la morale (2011)
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

Film Synopsis

It is April 1988 and the French presidential election is well under way.  The incumbent president, François Mitterrand, has a formidable opponent in his rival Jacques Chirac, but as the two men are about to go head-to-head in the final round of the election the French public's attention is diverted by an even bigger news story.  On the New Caledonia island of Ouvéa, a party of indigenous Kanaks committed to achieving independence from France have killed four French police officers and have taken another twenty-seven hostage.  The French government's response is swift and decisive - three hundred armed police are sent to Ouvéa to liberate the hostages and restore order to the island.

Anxious to avoid a bloody confrontation that may quickly escalate into a full-scale uprising, the GIGN police chief Philippe Legorjus requests a private interview with the leader of the Kanak rebels, Alphonse Dianou.  Legorjus believes that he can bring the crisis to a peaceful resolution by listening to Dianou's grievances and agreeing to act as a go-between with the French government for the safe return of the hostages.  Not everyone is happy with the way that Legorjus is handling the emergency.  The French government cannot be seen to give in to what is widely seen as a terrorist act, so the order is given for an armed assault against the hostage takers.  This is one of those occasions where order and morality must be kept apart.  It is a lesson that the well-meaning Philippe Legorjus learns too late...