Retro Film Review: The Patriots (Les Patriotes, 1994)

(SPECIAL NOTE: Capsule version of the review is available here.)

In the last few years widening rift between USA and Europe could be seen in increasingly different perspectives on Israel. On this side of the Big Pond Americans are often accused of being too friendly towards Jewish state. While US administration at least tries to give impression of being critical towards some Israeli policies, Hollywood is completely different matter. Israeli army and security services – the very same institutions responsible for policies that make many Europeans uncomfortable - are in Hollywood films portrayed as saintly, spotless defenders of mankind and world peace. The most controversial of all Israel's services is Mossad, secret service which was, until few embarrassing setbacks in 1990s, regarded as the best in the world. Since it is unimaginable for Hollywood to make a film in which Mossad would be approached with some critical distance, it wasn't surprising to find one such film being made somewhere else. And in the light of recent events it is even less surprising that The Patriots a.k.a. Les Patriotes, 1994 spy drama directed by Eric Rochant, was made in France.

The plot starts in 1983. Ariel Brenner a.k.a. Ari Eisenbach (played by Yvan Attal) is 18-year old Parisian Jew who decides to emigrate to Israel and join Mossad. After going through very intense and unpleasant training, during which he got accustomed to all sorts of psychological manipulations, Ariel becomes an agent and gets sent to Paris. There he would lead the covert operation aimed at stopping certain Arab country from acquiring nuclear weapons. Agents' target is Remy Prieur (played by Jean-Francois Stevenin), French nuclear scientist who is going to be blackmailed with the help of call girl Marie-Claude (played by Sandrine Kiberlain). During the operation Ariel becomes attracted to Marie-Claude and when she disappears afterwards, he begins to question his job. His next assignment revolves around Jeremy Pelman (played by Richard Masur), American official of Jewish descent who is going to provide classified information to Israel.

Loosely based on the real events, The Patriots gives naturalistic look to the dark world of espionage. Less interested in strictly technical details of world's most mysterious secret service, Eric Rochant builds the plot very slowly and shows how protagonist's youthful idealism gradually disappears when confronted with realities associated with his patriotic work. The style of direction is cold, dry and the more experienced viewers are going to be reminded of Jean-Pierre Melville. The audiences that would otherwise be lost in the cold, alien and complicated world of Mossad are helped by Rochant's ingenious form of exposition - events are narrated through the letters protagonists has written to his sister and never sent. Rochant handles plot very well and despite the lack of the more conventional spy thriller elements – chases, gunfights or explosions - the audience would be so engrossed in the story that they won't notice more than two hours of running time. Otherwise excellent impression of this film is ruined by ending, which makes too much of a contrast to the rest of film with its upbeat tone. But this doesn't mean that The Patriots shouldn't be recommended. Even those who are somewhat more familiar with its unusual subject are going to appreciate its quality.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 9th 2003)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/16242-les-patriotes
Critic: AA