The film unforgettable opening which switches back and forth between scenes of a concert at the Hanoi Opera and a platoon's last stand against the Vietminh in the dead of the night, set the tone for the rest of the movie. This is a slow pace melancolic and factual depiction of the fall of the colonial presence in Indochine in the early 50's. Whilst adopting the perpective of french soldiers, the movie never falls into the trap of naive patriotism. Instead, it serves as a tribute to the lost lives of french soldiers, many of which came from the colonies. The soundtrack is composed by Georges Delerue, one of the most famous film composer of this era. He notably composed the score for 'Le Mépris' and in many ways the movie slow and tragic unfolding reminded me of 'Le Mépris' by JL Godard (1963). This is not a film I would recommend to everyone. It is a rare account of a military disaster and of the fall of the french colonial empire: a melancolic movie teinted by regrets. Visually, the movie is splendid, it shows hypnotic battle scenes, sometimes taking place in complete silence like shadow play on the theatre of a hill, only sparsely lit by bright explosions of mortar. The violence is suggested rather than explicitly shown. The movie makes use of beautiful long shot in order to show the breathtaking scenery where the troops await their fate. In that regard the story succeeds in delivering a looming sense of doom as the viewer is increasingly aware that Dien Bien Phu is forming into a deadly trap for the numerous french troups which have become isolated from the world. There are romantic undertones in the showing of men lost in monumental natural setting against which they are powerless, the theatre of french colonisation being swept away by the monsoon, and the Vietminh represented as a swift army of shadows. The movie has flaws, the length is one of them. Another possible issue people may have with it, is the tone which is difficult to pin down: at times the movie feels like a documentary and at times, an introspective epic. Overall, it is better to have some background on french cinema and the Indochine conflict before diving into this one. French films often refuse to deliver a clear message at the end of the movie. This is also the case of this movie and you won't find an obvious moral message here. Instead, the movie is about nuance and seems to pride itself in silence and its ghostly atmosphere. If you liked the movie you would probably also enjoy another of Schoendoerffer's work 'Le crabe Tambour' (1976). If you are rebutted by the weight of an epic war drama, I would recommend watching Verneuil's 'Un singe en Hiver' (1962) which captures the spirit of that era in a completely different setting and more lighthearted mood.

Well, this movie is basically a fictionalized documentary about the fall of Dien Bien Phu. It goes 5/10 because photography is good enough and i could watch it until the end. There is nothing particular to say about acting. There are a few subplots, but they all boil down to how war affects people. Character development (if any) isn't noticeable. There is Donald Pleasence, but i wonder why...perhaps they needed some name-recognition tied to an obscure french movie. He plays a famed reported, but basically goes around exchanging futile chatter and riddles with basically sketched characters. It goes past 2h, so the movie drags its feet, for the kind of movie it is. I found it easily watchable enough, but i am NOT going to watch this twice. Good residual documentary value.

I saw this movie in East Beirut some years back when I was reluctant to watch war movies. Donald Pleasance makes an English language appearance in a French Language film. And as always is riveting. However the film strikingly reminded me of certain world powers', their colonial aspirations and their consequent outcomes, related to Lebanon and Vietnam. The film unravels how they, the tail end of the Victorian era, French in this case, loose colonies, lost control, and what followed would turn out to be similar. It is interesting that even the coins of both countries were both called piasters, and both had slots in the middle, like much of the Asian coinage still does. The French tried to suppress the national uprising in favor of their own revenues, and later the Americans saw their opportunity, to target practice and sell goods, if to no one else their own GI's. Lyndon Johnson and his tribe started Southland Corp. aka(7-11)after all. Haliburton had a big hand in that conflict as well. This film is worth your while if you can find it. I haven't seen it on Blockbuster online or Netflix.

Well... I guess that I really did like this movie in one way.. and in antoher way I really disliked it.Basically one MAJOR!!! thing is missing in it.. Vietnamse soldiers, Vietmihn to be exact.We get a good look at them in the end once the french have given up but that is just about it.You might argue that this aspect of the movie should be true that you are indeed fighting some sort of an "unseen" enemy, but that is simply not true in the case of Dien Bien Phu.Let me elaborate some what on that point, several forages and attacks were made from the French in futile attempts to roll up and out the enemy (i.e. a lot of close combat and SEEN enemies).Several human wave attacks were launched against the French (most unsuccesfull though).Finally the Vietmihn managed to dislodge the French soldiers by basically trenching their way to them, foot by foot, yard by yard.At some points of the battle is somewhat more resembled a WWI scenario more than jungle combat.I feel that the movie gave us a fairly good view of the French parts.. but just where the hell did the Viets go?