L'assalto

French director Julien Leclercq's sophomore feature is a dramatization of the events of Christmas Day, 1994, when a group of four heavily armed men from the Algerian Armed Islamic Group hijack an Air France flight bound for Paris. The comparisons with Paul Greengrass' 'United 93' are inevitable- besides the fact that both concern themselves with the hijacking of a commercial plane by Muslim extremists, Leclercq also employs the same hand-held, faux-verite style that Greengrass used to convey the urgency and immediacy of the unfolding events.

For the most part, Leclercq succeeds in creating a gripping chronological account of the events leading up to the French GIGN's (the elite counter-terrorism paramilitary unit of the French National Gendarmerie) storming of the plane stranded on a runway in Marseille airport where it had stopped to refuel. Still, his film lacks the intensity and emotional muscle of 'United 93', which is perhaps also a consequence of the more drawn-out nature of the incident (two days compared to United's two hours) which it portrays.

Leclercq, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Moutairou, chooses to tell the story from three parallel lines. Thierry (Vincent Elbaz) is one of the squad leaders of the GIGN, and the film's opening minutes attempt to contrast the harrowing nature of his daily work with the calming father figure he tries to be at home to his baby girl. On the other side of the barrel is Yahia (Aymen Saidi), the leader of the terrorist group who finds justification (however misguided) for his actions through fervent and frequent prayer. There's also Carole (Melanie Bernier), a French Interior Ministry staffer who finds it an uphill task to prove to her condescending male colleagues that the hijackers are in fact on a suicide mission.

The choice of these three perspectives is interesting, especially the contrast between Thierry and Yahia. Leclercq draws similarities between the two, despite their relative sides in the impending battle. A poignant sequence where Yahia's mother meets him face-to-face to convince him to surrender affirms that Yahia is, like Thierry, a family man. Just like Thierry too, Yahia finds himself the rallying figure for his men, the symbol they look to for strength amidst their fears and anxieties for the task in front of them. Carole, on the other hand, portrays the authorities' unpreparedness in dealing with the threat of Muslim extremism, much of the dithering on the part of the French probably manifested in the same way by the American authorities when 9/11 hit.

The fact that these three story lines unfold almost independently of each other means that there is less screen time for each of the characters- but Elbaz, Saidi and Bernier perform admirably in lifting their characters beyond caricature. In particular, Saidi is surprisingly effective as the determined terrorist leader who nonetheless is not without shades of humanity and concomitant uncertainties about his course of action. Bernier also convinces as the bold and resolute junior staffer willing to take risks to circumvent layers in Government authority.

Together, the well-chosen cast hold your attention until the final 20 minutes where the action kicks in proper. There will certainly be detractors who will find fault with Leclercq's choice to shoot most of the action in close-ups, as it also means that it is sometimes difficult to follow the swiftly unfolding action. Nonetheless, this climactic showdown is no less heart-thumping, and perhaps it is even more so because Leclercq conveys it through the eyes of those thrust into the highly charged situation (think of it as a first-person shooter experience).

And indeed, even if Leclercq was clearly influenced by Greengrass' method, there's no denying that he has utilised it effectively to retell a similarly harrowing real-life drama with style and verve. There is a raw energy to his technique of hand-held, documentary-style shots, and the intertwining of the dramatized events with real-life footage enhances the highly-fraught tension-filled situation. This isn't your standard-issue action thriller, but one which reminds us of the clear and present real-life danger present in our world out there, as well as the true heroes who put their lives on the line for those of others.

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Every nation has their special police/squad team. So do the french as you can see in this movie that is based on a real event that occurred in 1994. Something is going down (no pun intended), which the french police tries to stop. Of course this can be eerie, especially because you will think of another event that happened a few years later elsewhere. While no real connection is made, you can sort of feel it.

What makes this stick out, is the fact, that there are quite a few good action set pieces and a real character development amongst our characters. While I haven't checked upon how close this is to what happened originally, I can tell you that this is tension filled stuff indeed.

Reading some of the reviews (probably fake and part of the production team), they are defending the color de-saturation/black and white effect, slow pace etc...

And then there's the other idiotic reviews that are basic plot summaries or synopsis - that's not a review and does not belong here, nor does it merit a film!

I've seen many great French films, and to simply excuse all the negative aspects of this film because it's French-made and it's to be expected, is no excuse for a poor screenplay, terrible editing, idiotic cinematography, and disgraceful directing.

Let's start with the de-saturation/black and white; it's meant for dated, artsy-type or musical films... French or not.

The shaky cam was so annoying, I wanted to stop watching this film every 15 minutes, but gave it a chance. This is not typical French cinematography or directing... this is the director trying to Americanize this film. Fail.

The editing was about as good as a fifth grader cutting pieces of paper for an abstract piece.

The screenplay is what needed the cutting; I didn't need to see forever-long prayers from the terrorists. We get it, they are loyal to their God. And screaming it non-stop to all the passengers - even a 5th grade bully would have had more intimidating dialogue.

The plot had more holes in it than the shots fired.

As one reviewer stated, this film would have been better as a documentary, and probably would have held the viewers attention better.

Sure the story based on actual events was interesting, and the casting wasn't too bad. But those are the only two reasons this film was deserving of my 4/10 score, but that's it.

Any amateur film-maker with an iPhone could have put together a better film and cut this screenplay to 1 hour and be more effective and entertaining.

USA has her SWAT, Japan has her Security Police, Brazil has her BOPE featured in Elite Squad, and as far as special police teams go, the French has got her GIGN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) making it onto the big screen, and what more than to introduce them via a true, high profile aircraft hijacking of an Air France Airbus 300 plane in the year 1994 involving the supposed attempt of using a fuel laden aircraft as a missile targeted against a major city landmark, a chilling 7 years before a terrorist group managed to carry out this dastardly act on the soil of USA.

Those of us who had grown up playing the first person shooter game Counter-strike will be no strangers to the uniform of the GIGN, since it is one of the four outfits that you can select on your character profile if you choose to be on the side of the counter-terrorists. Director Julien Leclercq paid close attention to detail and began with literally a big bang to showcase the capabilities of the GIGN troopers, before saving up the real deal for the extended final act. But that's not to say that the film is a boring ride. On the contrary, Leclercq crafted a gripping tale that moves, probes and examines very quickly how things get to spiral out of control until the inevitable outcome, expertly handling three separate narrative threads running concurrently before finally converging into the titular battle onboard the narrow confines of an aircraft.

The first naturally comes from the perpetrators, the terrorists, their thought process and ruthless action in causing mass panic and fear to further their political cause. Here it's the GIA out to free two of their comrades in Algeria, or so it seems, and had taken an Air France plane at the airport as leverage. But the second thread, focused on Mélanie Bernier's Foreign Ministry analyst Carole in a very Jack Ryan-esque role whose research, insights and gut feel points to a very different strategy and objective adopted by the hijackers, and has to cut through the usual red tape in the administration to push her points through, at times too direct that it irks the brass. And the last narrative thread paints a rather personal picture of GIGN trooper Thierry (Vincent Elbaz), personifying the issues and concerns of those who put their lives on the line to protect strangers, at the risk of upsetting and disappointing their own family members even, who cannot reconcile why they do what they do.

Technically, the film has fantastically strained its colour palette, making it very close to black and white, which I thought suited it fine since it's actually loosely referencing events from history (with the dramatic license for it too I hope) like a documentary, akin to accessing vague memory banks or like watching a news reel unspool - some of the clips that the characters watch from television were the real deal at the time. Then there is the choice of adopting the shaky cam. Now I'm not a proponent for this camera technique because more often than not it gets exploited by the filmmakers to cover up flaws in their work, and am finding it tiring as an audience to try and follow events on screen when the camera moves about almost all the time. It's not to say it cannot be used, because The Assault did it nicely that fit the narrative well, transmitting that sense of urgency and constant danger, helped by a pulsating soundtrack by Jean-Jacques Hertz and Francois Roy.

What made this film excel amongst its peers are the sensitive stories and characters involved in a life and death situation, with viewpoints presenting both in macro and micro terms, the latter allowing you to feel for the characters since it's set up very carefully to allow for empathy. Leclercq does not pull his punches in vilifying the evil doers, with powerful scenes both to evoke a sense of hatred for the senseless violence they preach, and in one potent scene involving a terrorist having to face up to his parents, allowed that slight sliver of sympathy that they are but pawns manipulated by others. It's a little pity though that the socio-political context of the incident isn't covered in the film in detail which may leave some perplexed, and while it may rob The Assault of its pace, may probably enhance the viewer's understanding of the conflict that existed.

As far as police thrillers go, The Assault scores high on both action and drama, providing that unique combination very rarely seen in action films, that allows you to feel for the characters, and appreciate the unenviable task of the special forces in the respective countries constantly training and prepping to deter any would be aggressors, but when the time calls for it, to swing into action unflinchingly. Tactics and weapons on display in the film also provides ample fuel for fruitful post screening discussions. Definitely one of my favourite films this year!

While we are on a subject of movies based on true events, we must mention this French gem from 2010. Although the production values are not blockbuster-like, as you would expect them in a movie of this caliber, the usual French colour manipulation and slight blur applied in post-processing made the whole thing look much better with almost noir vibe. I had some doubts about this movie, that it will be some Taxi-like action, but I assure you that this is a serious movie. The only flaw that I could think of is that they didn't manage to fully develop the characters, but then again that wasn't the point. The point was the assault, and that part was done perfectly.

In the past decade we have seen a number of movies portraying special forces of different countries (SWAT, BOPE…) so we finally get the chance to see the frenchies in action, and out of all them, they were most successful (at least in real life). The Assault is a movie about the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969, that was taken by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in the December of 1994 and the attempts of the French government to peacefully resolve this situation. Although this happened in 1994, after the September 11 attacks and a number of failed attempts to hijack other planes this is still a very interesting subject, especially now with the rise of the Islamic extremists. Speaking of them, we have a rare chance to look inside the mind of your average terrorist, and we have to thank the actors for that. Along with the actual raid, that part of the movie was just so fascinating to me. Maybe because of the outcome of this hijacking, they didn't hold back with the story and we can actually see what is going on behind closed doors. Bribes, pleads, blackmail and only as a final solution an assault… With a very talented director and a great cast, this movie will keep you on the edge of your seat with its realistic action and suspenseful atmosphere. The special bonus is that it's all true, and this just adds more tension to an already intense movie. I will not reveal you what happens in the end, but if you want you can check out the links below for more information, enjoy… As a final note, I must implore you that as with any other movie that isn't made in USA or England, please DO NOT watch the dubbed version, it will ruin the vibe…

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