WHITE SOLDIER / Soldat blanc
International Premiere • TV Movie • Drama, War • France, 2014
Blu-Ray • Color • 142 min
Directed by: Erick Zonca
Written by: Olivier Lorelle, Erick Zonca, based on an original idea by Georges Campana
Produced by: Georges Campana (Breakout Films)
Cast: Abraham Belaga, Emile Berling, Mike N'Guyen, Clément Roussier, Kool Shen
International Sales: Lagardère Entertainment Rights • www.le-rights.com
Broadcast date: Canal Plus, September 8, 2014
From the director of the César winning Dreamlife of Angels comes this gritty historical drama, co-written with Georges Campana, Olivier Lorelle and Erick Zonca, pitting two idealistic French soldiers against one another in colonial Vietnam circa 1945. Robert and André strike up a friendship in their Saigon base camp while waiting for deployment on a mission they believe is aimed at curtailing Japanese aggression against the Vietnamese. Both are eager to engage the enemy, but once they hit the rice fields of Tonkin they are faced with a sordid reality: they are actually fighting civilians who have taken up Ho Chi Minh’s call for political freedom. Refusing to kill Vietnamese, André joins the Viet Minh resistance, and becomes responsible for the political “re-education” of captured French soldiers. Determined to make André pay for his treason, Robert forms a commando unit.