![I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED](/storage/film-archive/12378/3975_womansmoking.jpg)
I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED
In this stylish pulp thriller and political story, filmmaker Serge Le Péron brings to light one of the strangest and most disturbing episodes in French history - the unsolved and topical disappearance of the Moroccan liberation activist Ben Barka.
George Figon (Charles Berling), an ex-con from a bourgeois background, receives a strange commission from a criminal organisation: to produce a documentary about decolonisation. Marguerite Duras (Josiane Balasko) will write the narration and George Franju (Jean-Pierre Léaud) will direct. Egged on by a shadowy Moroccan operative, Figon persuades Ben Barka to consider collaborating on the project as a consultant. Little does the latter suspect he is the target of the operation.
Barka's disappearance is still regularly in the news - but what is actually known by the French, Moroccan and US authorities? In his wonderfully acted, gripping and suggestive film, Le Péron plays a clever game with this question. Claustrophobic sets and locations, a cool-toned palette and a jazz-infused score echo the vintage French cinema of Godard and Melville and evoke the mood of the times with undeniable élan.
D/S Serge Le Péron P Gilles Sandoz S Frédérique Moreau WS Films Distribution L French w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2005/101mins
Serge Le Péron was born in Paris, France, in 1948. His films include Laisse Beton (1984) and L'Affaire Marcorelle (2000).