J’ai vu tuer Ben Barka

The restless past is convincingly brought to life in Serge Le Péron’s stylish political thriller about the still unsolved disappearance of prominent militant Moroccan leader Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965. The disappearance is still regularly in the news: in 2001, French politics was in uproar when 73 documents were released relevant to the case. The CIA is willing to admit it has about 1,800 items on Ben Barka, but it will not release them. And we need have no illusions about the communicative nature of the Moroccan Secret Service. What is known? In his wonderfully acted, gripping and suggestive film noir, Le Péron plays a clever game with this question. The turbulent era is convincingly portrayed with a beautiful jazz score, archive material and precise design that evokes the mood of the films of Melville and Godard. We hear about events through the voice of the protagonist George Figon (Berling), who is found dead in his apartment at the beginning of the film. Officially it was suicide. Figon is a journalist with debts, and contacts in the world of politics, culture and the underworld. He receives the strange commission from a criminal organisation to produce a documentary about decolonisation: the idea is that Marguerite Duras (Balasko) will write the narration and George Franju (Léaud) will direct. It turns out to be a trap for Mehdi Ben Barka (Abkarian), who is to be asked to act as a consultant. (GT)

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