LOST COMMAND (1966)

 

          “Lost Command” was directed and produced by Mark Robson.  He was coming off “Von Ryan's Express” and had also helmed “The Bridges at Toko-Ri”.  The screenplay is based on the novel The Centurions by Jean Larteguy who was a veteran.  The book covers a group of French soldiers in the First Indochina War, the Algerian War, and the Suez Crisis.  Published in 1960, the book was a smash hit.  It has since become a source for the study of counterinsurgency, including by officers involved in the Vietnam War.  The movie was released in the early years of America’s involvement in Vietnam, but did not strike a chord with the American public.  It was banned in France for its first ten years.  The movie was shot in Spain with an international cast.  As was common for a movie of this type, most of that cast was asked to play a character not of their nationality.  So, apparently casting George Segal as an Arab was not the result of drugs.

                        The story opens in the waning days of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.  Lt. Col. Raspeguy (Anthony Quinn) begs for reinforcements, but only gets one plane of paratroopers who are promptly dropped into the no man’s land, where they are slaughtered.  The movie begins with this action scene, but it is not impressive.  The final Vietminh assault is small scale and overly choreographed.  And too brief.  There is no big picture, but it is strongly implied Dien Bien Phu was a cockup.  The survivors are repatriated, with Raspeguy returning to France in need of redemption.  What better way than through the magic of cinema?  He is given the plum assignment of restoring order in Algeria.  He gets the old gang back together, except Mahdi (Segal) who has returned to Algeria and joined the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN).   His sister Aicha (Claudia Cardinale) is also involved as an arms smuggler.  Raspeguy trains his men hard and makes it clear he is not big on rules of engagement.  Most of his men take his “war is war” approach, but there is a conscience of the group in Capt. Esclavier (Alain Delon, who apparently can only play Frenchmen).  Esclavier has pangs over the torturing of prisoners, even though it seems to work.  Not surprising for a movie, he hooks up with Aicha.  You can’t stop beautiful people from getting involved in a movie.  And you can’t stop one side from committing atrocities if the other is doing it.  There is a lot of back and forth in the movie.  Tit-for-tat.  This results in plenty of action of the guerrilla warfare variety.  Things get messy, but not graphically messy.

                        “Lost Command” was a movie that had to be made due to the popularity of the book.  Although it follows the book closely, it does not rise to bestseller status.  The acting is average, but the casting of actors outside their nationality is a stunt that works.  It tends to help you overlook the stereotypes they portray.  You’ve seen all these characters before.  Raspeguy is the pragmatic leader, Esclavier is the morally torn subordinate.  Raspeguy is Barnes and Esclavier is Elias.  This dynamic is at the core of the movie as they represent the two approaches to counterinsurgency.  One of them dies and the other gets a medal. 

                        The movie is a decent history lesson.  It was the first movie shown in America that covered the Algerian War.  The nature of a guerrilla war with its atrocities and escalation are realistically portrayed.  Raspeguy was based on Marcel Bigeard.  He rose from a private to Lt. General.  He commanded an elite unit of paratroopers at Dien Bien Phu.  He was captured and repatriated after three months of captivity.  He was given command of the 3^rd Colonial Parachute Regiment and sent to Algeria.  He used torture in Algiers when he was sent to the city to put down the rebellion there.  His methods included dropping men from planes to get fellow captives to talk – “Bigeard’s shrimps”.  He justified his methods as “necessary evil” when he was forced to answer for it after the war.  Mahdi was apparently based on Ben M’hidi who was a founding member of the FLN.  He was captured by Bigeard, who respected him as a fellow warrior and refused to torture him.  He was eventually turned over to higher command and executed.

                        It is appropriate to compare it to “Battle of Algiers” which came out the same year.  “Battle of Algiers” is a classic and “Lost Command” is mostly forgotten.  That seems about right.  If you watch only one movie about the Algerian War, it should be “Battle of Algiers”.  But if you are going to watch two, “Lost Command” is entertaining and pushes its themes effectively.  And you get to see George Segal play an Arab!

GRADE =  C