"Sympathie pour le diable" is with no doubt one of the great films of the year 2019. But with a rather unpleasant main character and a subject as unglamorous as the Sarajevo siege in the early 1990s, I don't think it will encounter a large success and it is a shame. Very well recreated and featuring very convincing actors, "Sympathie pour le diable" deserves indeed some attention -- and love from movie-goers.
Guillaume de Fontenay, the director, knew Paul Marchand who is the central figure of the film. A fearless war reporter, Marchand covered the Bosnian war for several French-speaking media (France Info, Radio Canada, RTBF...). In Sarajevo, which was surrounded by Serb forces constantly firing off mortar shells, Marchand and a handful of foreign correspondents gave daily accounts of the dreadful situation and devastation most Bosnians were in, between snipers shootings and bombings. The journalists had to rush with their cameras, microphones and notepads to capture the 'essence' of the civil war and try to catch the attention of the rest of the world about the ongoing massacre. And when they were not doing that, they killed time as they could.
Very realistic, "Sympathie pour le diable" brings you there, in the middle of an ugly war, at the heart of a never ending winter, always following closely Marchand and his team. Niels Schneider delivers a very good interpretation. Paul Marchand was no saint (he could be very critical of his colleagues' work for instance, or make compromising arrangements to get the best news), but was able to do some good whenever he wanted or when it was necessary. A real tribute to his work ethics, "Sympathie pour le diable" is a gripping first film that leaves you often breathless and makes you think long after its ending.
2 Reviews
In ENGRISHALAH!
lukeyandlost14 July 2022
This poetic and math pounding flick is beyond the flesh of your skin, Comrade. I had my eyes removed and put back together not touching any flesh; you could do that but not like me. I touched no flesh! You could not resist stroking my blood marinated flesh during such an operation.
My technics CD player was but only a prototype that the Japanese stole from my people. The ear buds made from slaughtered enemy soldiers in my most recent campaign I collected from the battlefield using my time machine. MATSUSHITA!!
Before you...simple. My self made and top of the line "time machine" does not require 88 mph or fusion. It is run with goat's blood. I do not bend or tort space time like the amblyopic pretender of your grand children's presents at Xmas next year. X equals the best leader of the free world. You get the dumb.
This movie is the thing I watch while acting like I sleep knowing you are watching me breath - decoding the false signals I send in rate of respiration and sudden delays. You are the easiest of the enemy as I first used my time machine to defeat all of the hardest so I could spend my time playing the easiest with the cheats.
The movie inspired me so deep that I cut my enemy in the head with my matching of spelling to the Tori Amos of the Beverly Crusher ERA of real estate centers of the World! United Airlines!? Why then you use the American Airlines at the same time? I see through it all...in my shower where you watch and wish you were wearing my flesh.
There were tons of thousands of "goofs" however so I downgraded my opinion by 1. NE yet - nice trice cowboy.
Do you even speak French? That is the language I speak in the movie of the Cowboy and Bonds...bearer bonds stollen from mother Russia. You think I would die from falling a MIR 100,000 miles from that building? While I was gliding I made a space station...no problem. Very professional station with a guest quarters and private salon.
My technics CD player was but only a prototype that the Japanese stole from my people. The ear buds made from slaughtered enemy soldiers in my most recent campaign I collected from the battlefield using my time machine. MATSUSHITA!!
Before you...simple. My self made and top of the line "time machine" does not require 88 mph or fusion. It is run with goat's blood. I do not bend or tort space time like the amblyopic pretender of your grand children's presents at Xmas next year. X equals the best leader of the free world. You get the dumb.
This movie is the thing I watch while acting like I sleep knowing you are watching me breath - decoding the false signals I send in rate of respiration and sudden delays. You are the easiest of the enemy as I first used my time machine to defeat all of the hardest so I could spend my time playing the easiest with the cheats.
The movie inspired me so deep that I cut my enemy in the head with my matching of spelling to the Tori Amos of the Beverly Crusher ERA of real estate centers of the World! United Airlines!? Why then you use the American Airlines at the same time? I see through it all...in my shower where you watch and wish you were wearing my flesh.
There were tons of thousands of "goofs" however so I downgraded my opinion by 1. NE yet - nice trice cowboy.
Do you even speak French? That is the language I speak in the movie of the Cowboy and Bonds...bearer bonds stollen from mother Russia. You think I would die from falling a MIR 100,000 miles from that building? While I was gliding I made a space station...no problem. Very professional station with a guest quarters and private salon.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
