The Third War

The Third War
Original title:La troisieme guerre
Director:Giovanni Aloi
Release:Cinema
Running time:90 minutes
Release date:Not communicated
Rating:
Leo has just finished school and for his first assignment, he is sent on a Sentinel mission. Here he is, pacing the streets of the capital, with nothing to do but keep an eye out for a possible threat...

Mulder's Review

"I was in Paris at the time of the attacks in 2015. In two days, the city changed completely. I had never perceived such silence in the capital, such terror. Following the declaration of the state of emergency, the presence of the military on patrol in the streets, machine guns in hand, became a common sight. I observed them doing nothing for hours. And this inactivity surprised me. The relationship between an individual's personality and the work he or she has chosen is a question that fascinates me. With these soldiers, I was faced with a paradox: those who become soldiers have chosen this profession to be useful to society; however, as sentries, they find themselves idle. "Giovanni Aloi

After several short films, the director and screenwriter Giovanni Aloï delivers with his first film The Third War and approaches with a certain intelligence the deployment of some soldiers in France within the framework of the operation sentinel set up to fight terrorism. Following the attacks of January 2015, the President of the French Republic decided to strengthen security on the territory and make sure that young soldiers can patrol and especially secure large sporting and cultural events. The Third War turns out to be one of the good surprises of the crime film festival as the film draws a sensitive portrait of the current armed forces and how young people who have lost their bearings decide to integrate them to give meaning to their lives. Integration, as this film shows so well, does not always go well and above all reveals deep personal wounds.

In the film The Third War, the action takes place in the streets of Paris, and we follow three soldiers of Operation Sentinel on patrol. On the lookout, they wait for an imminent but invisible danger and will eventually have to make decisions, more or less good. The script by Dominique Baumard, Giovanni Aloï succeeds in perfectly capturing the renewal of the army in France in a difficult economic context and in a palpable fear that other acts of terrorism will take place. Whether it is a bag abandoned on the subway platform, or people behaving in a surprising way, the oppressive climate is well conveyed on screen.

From the very first scene in a subway station, an abandoned bag catches the attention of an army patrol wondering whether or not it presents a risk of danger to the population. The director Giovanni Aloi shows that he is able to put in scene a common scene of our life and make it really worrying and gripping. The same care is felt through the character of Yasmine who is a military woman who must hide the fact that she is pregnant if she wants to get the job she is looking for. Between its patrol scenes and the life of these soldiers in their garrison, the film wants to draw up a realistic report and to try to better understand these soldiers who seem to lose their bearings and wonder their real usefulness in the face of an invisible enemy.

This film benefits from an interesting cast in which we find with pleasure Leïla Bekhti, in a role against the grain and especially Anthony Bajon haloed with the Silver Bear for Best Actor during the 68th Berlinale, in February 2018 and whose Teddy by Zoran Boukherma and Ludovic Boukherma are preparing to release in theaters in France.

The third war 
A film directed by Giovanni Aloï
Produced by Thierry Lounas
Screenplay by Dominique Baumard & Giovanni Aloï
With Anthony Bajon, Karim Leklou, Leïla Bekhti, Arthur Verret, Jonas Dinal, Raphaël Quenard, Esdras Registe, Igor Kovalsky, Maxime Cailliau, Jules Dousset
Music by Frédéric Alvarez & Bruno Bellissimo
Director of photography : Martin Rit
Editing : Rémi Langlade
Production : Capricci Films, Bien ou Bien productions
Distribution : Capricci Films (France)
Release date : September 21 2021 (France)
Running time : 90 minutes

Seen on May 26, 2021 (Festival Reims Polar)

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