Capitaine Conan

Capitaine Conan is a 1996 French film that is directed by Bertrand Tavernier. The film is based on the 1934 Prix Goncourt-winning novel Captain Conan by Roger Vercel. After World War I, French infantry officer Capitaine Conan and the men that he commands find it difficult to remain in Bucharest, mobilized while ordered not to fight. They are subject to attacks from Romanian Bolsheviks to which they cannot take pre-emptive action. They are tired of guard duty and state dinners. Their anger causes them to resort to crimes. The crimes cause court-martial proceedings. Captaine Conan and Lt.... Norbert team up to save the life of a man who is sentenced to death for a desertion that he claims he didn't commit. The film has two out of three fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, even though there are more reviews listed. Janet Maslin, of The New York Times, said that Mr. Torreton powerfully embodies the film's central questions of what a fighter becomes without combat and where the values inherent in savage battle may lead. Ken Fox, of TV Guide, said beautiful as it is brutal and that it is one of the best war films of recent years.
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