Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Denis Lavant | ... | Galoup | |
Michel Subor | ... | Commander Bruno Forestier | |
Grégoire Colin | ... | Gilles Sentain | |
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Richard Courcet | ... | Legionnaire |
Nicolas Duvauchelle | ... | Legionnaire | |
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Adiatou Massudi | ... | Legionnaire |
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Mickael Ravovski | ... | Legionnaire |
Dan Herzberg | ... | Legionnaire | |
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Giuseppe Molino | ... | Legionnaire |
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Gianfranco Poddighe | ... | Legionnaire |
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Marc Veh | ... | Legionnaire |
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Thong Duy Nguyen | ... | Legionnaire |
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Jean-Yves Vivet | ... | Legionnaire |
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Bernardo Montet | ... | Legionnaire |
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Dimitri Tsiapkinis | ... | Legionnaire |
This film focuses on ex-Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind. He feels compelled to stop him from coming to the attention of the commandant who he admires, but who ignores him. Ultimately, his jealousy leads to the destruction of both Sentain and himself. Written by L.H. Wong <lhw@sfs.org.sg>
This is quite possibly the most dull movie I have ever seen. It documents the life of a Sargeant Galoup in the French Legion in Africa who becomes obsessed with competing with one of his soldiers, Sentain. Tensions escalate. Bad stuff happens.
Very predictable, good acting but it isn't enough to save the viewer from utter boredom. I have lost a portion of my life that I can't have back because of Beau Travail. If you want to see a french movie, I assure you that there are thousands of good ones. If you think you would enjoy a more memoir-ish French movie like Beau Travail, Le Gloire de Mon Pere and the more highly rated Chateau de Ma Mere are both said to be classics. I myself have never seen them but I have read the books, so I know they if the film makers did not betray the storyline too much it is a sweet and slow(sometimes TOO slow) movie. But overall, pretty worth it. I personally prefered Le Gloire de Mon Pere.
To simluate Beau Travail: Do some pushups. Sit in front of a blank wall in your home for about 20 minutes. Run around the block. Watch the same wall. Drink some water. Do alot of crunches and jumping jacks. Wash dishes or do laundry. Come back and look at the wall. Repeat until you think you can't do it anymore out of sheer boredom, then continue for about 45 minutes.
In short, save yourself a few hours, a lot of boredom, and about 5 bucks and don't rent this movie. However, it does have a pretty cool song, by Turkish group Tarkan, called Simarik.