09/12/2005

With filmmaker Costa Gavras and his Belgian colleagues the Dardenne brothers at the lever, Mon Colonel, the first feature by Laurent Herbiet announces itself as a very encouraging prospect. Its context? Algeria in 1956, and more precisely the French army and the murderous events of a war that dared not speak its name. Interpreted by Olivier Gourmet and Eric Caravaca, Mon Colonel is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Francis Zamponi published in 1999 and following a young lieutenant Guy Rossi, a student propelled into the Algerian conflict under the direct command of a colonel, Raoul Duplan (Olivier Gourmet), who makes up his own rules driven by the motto "no pacification, no keeping order, I am at war". Subjugated by the character, Rossi (Eric Caravaca) is not aware of his own metamorphosis ("I surprise myself, thinking of myself more as a soldier and less and less as a civilian ") and been led to acts that logically lead to the worst, even torture. A tale that evokes the fate of simple men taken hostage by the cynicism of political decisions and the confrontation between moral conscience and the intransigence of the military hierarchy.

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Assistant-director well-respected (Palais royal!, Pas sur la bouche...), Laurent Herbiet, whose father participated in the war in Algeria, will benefit for his start as a filmmaker from a French-Belgian co-production. Produced at 88% by French company KG Productions and Distribution (headed by Costa Gavras and his wife Michèle Ray-Gavras) and co-produced by Les Films du Fleuve, Mon colonel was credited with 430.000 euros from Eurimages and 325 000 euros of aid from région Ile-de-France. The project also has a promise of Advance on Receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC), with a figure to be announced soon. Shooting will start in mid-February in Paris and region and will finish at the end of April in Algeria with five further weeks planned, probably in the regions of Guelma and de Kherrata.

(Translated from French)