L'ordre et la morale (2011)

Dissidents in a French colony attack a police station and take hostages.

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writers:

Mathieu Kassovitz (scenario), Pierre Geller (scenario)

Stars:

Mathieu Kassovitz, Iabe Lapacas, Malik Zidi

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Philippe Legorjus
Iabe Lapacas	...	Alphonse Dianou
Malik Zidi	...	JP Perrot
Alexandre Steiger	...	Jean Bianconi
Daniel Martin	...	Bernard Pons
Philippe Torreton	...	Christian Prouteau
Sylvie Testud	...	Chantal Legorjus
Steeve Une	...	Samy
Philippe de Jacquelin Dulphé	...	Général de brigade Vidal
Patrick Fierry	...	Colonel de l'armée Dubut
Jean-Philippe Puymartin	...	Général de Gendarmerie Jérôme
Stéfan Godin	...	Lieutenant Colonel de Gendarmerie Benson
François 'Kötrepi' Neudjen	...	Nine Wea
Macki Wea	...	Djubelly Wea
Alphonse Djoupa	...	Hilaire Dianou

Storyline

April 1988, Ouvea island, New Caledonia. 30 policemen held hostage by a group of Kanak separatists. 300 soldiers sent from France to restore order. 2 men face to face: Philippe Legorjus, captain of the GIGN and Alphonse Dianou, head of the hostage takers. Through shared values, they will try to win the dialogue. But in the midst of a presidential election, when the stakes are political, order is not always dictated by morality.

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Plot Keywords:

hostage | french colony | kanak | new caledonia | uniform | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 November 2011 (France)

Also Known As:

Rebellion

Filming Locations:

New Caledonia

Company Credits

Production Co:

MNP Entreprise, Cofinova 7, Nord-Ouest Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The units, other than the GIGN, that were involved in the attack were Commando Hubert (a 'Commandos Marine' unit of the French Navy) and 11e régiment parachutiste de choc (an elite parachute unit, part of the Directorate-General for External Security).

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Crazy Credits

Photographs of the actual event, as well as press photos and photos of the real people, are shown during the initial credits.

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Connections

Featured in Le dernier assaut: les coulisses de L'ordre et la morale (2012)

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Soundtracks

Chant traditionnel Kanak 1
interprétée par l'équipe du film
(c) Domaine Public
(p) Nord-Ouest Films

User Reviews

A different kind of hostage movie

Rebellion is a good hostage movie. It presents a refreshing balanced view of what taking hostage means, which is not without reminding Dog Day Afternoon. Like it, it depicts real life hostage takers, not as dehumanized machiavellian bad guys, but as relatively ordinary people making bad decisions and the unravelling of violence it unleashes.

But where Dog Day Afternoon, as an American movie, focuses on individual responsibility, Rebellion focuses on the reaction of society and its flaws, and this is where I have problems with the movie. I am not very familiar with that particular historical event, but the director, in its eagerness to show that violence could have been avoided, seems to give a bit quickly absolution to the hostage takers. They killed 4 innocent and unarmed policemen? Well, they regret, so it's OK to not surrender and even take more hostages. They make realistic demands, such as: "state officially that we are not terrorists or we kill the hostages" (!!), and intend to exploit their crime mediatically. What can be wrong with that?