That was an excellent one.

An Exercise In Nonsense

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It has become very fashionable amongst uninformed opinion to mock the French military heritage . John A Nagi's best selling book Learning To Eat Soup With A Knife is a modern day bible of counter-insurgency warfare and chronicles the differences between America's failed conflict in Vietnam and Britain's spectacularly successful conflict against communist terrorists in Malaya in the 1950s . One of the major keys to British success was developing a French strategy learned in the Indo-China war of the ink spot strategy , a military counter-insurgency technique America dismissively ignored in Vietnam . That said there's different factors in winning and losing wars and when the British tried the Ink Spot strategy in Helmand province Afghanistan it was next to useless . Likewise the final outcome of the French Indo-China war was defeat for the colonial French after the pitched battle of Dien Bien Phu . But let it never be said that a bloody defeat requires less courage than a bloody victory and 317TH PLATOON tells of a bloody French defeat I came in to this film knowing absolutely nothing about it except was directed and written by Pierre Schoendoerffer who was present at the battle of Dien Bien Phu as a cameraman and in 1992 made the epic war film featuring the battle . In short what Schoenddoerffer doesn't know about the French Indo-China war isn't worth knowing and expected him to translate this to screen I was not disappointed . I've never seen a war but do know about the hot humid hell of monsoon in Asia and the director translates this very well to the audience where cloths are never dry and no matter how much liquid is consumed a thirst is never satisfied . Leeches and insects are always a problem and if a man suffers a small wound infection leading to gangrene is a threat . In this part of the world it's not only the enemy a White European has to fight but also the environment itself This helps to give a very real sense of time and place to the story that plotwise is very familiar to war film aficionados . The story itself is very simple of a platoon stuck behind enemy lines and having to fight their way to sanctuary . It does contain a very European film making style , one of cinema verite , of naturalistic light and sound recording and of choppy editing giving the audience a slightly disorientated feel but this in keeping with the film . If you're expecting the expressionistic nightmare of APOCAYLPSE NOW or the emotional roller-coaster of PLATOON then you'll be disappointed because that's not what 317TH PLATOON is trying to be but in its own way it's as effective as any Hollywood 'Nam epicA couple of things don't work . One is the audience might have to know the background of the conflict in order to understand why the platoon seemingly become stuck 150kilometres behind enemy lines . Another plot point is why the platoon have to open fire and give away their position to a passing Vietminh battalion when they could have laid low and bypassed it but these are minor flaws in a film that deserves to be better known about a counter-insurgency conflict that is totally forgotten . With Afghanistan being in the headlines for twelve years it might be a good idea to remember the quote from Marx that " History repeats itself first as tragedy , secondly as farce "

The National Museum of Singapore Cinematheque continues in its provision of specially curated film programme with a special focus of Asia being seen through French cinema, with screenings and talks being organized around the theme, which you can find out more about at their website here. The 317th Platoon piqued my interest for being a war film made by filmmakers who have actually walked the talk and experiencing the conflict themselves, and you can just about trust director Pierre Schoendoerffer and renowned French cinematographer Raoul Coutard to bring about a film of cinematic quality even when dealing with what I deem as a taboo subject for French filmmakers, since the era of the French- Vietnam war in the 50s is something rarely seen put on film, with this being an exception, and a stunning one at that.And with screenings at the Cinematheque you can just about trust the programmers to hunt down the perfect version of the film to be put on screen, this being the restored film by La Cinematheque francaise and by StudioCanal in collaboration with The Franco-American Cultural Fund, cleaned up from its pops, cackles and whistles to bring about an exceptionally beautiful presentation that does justice to Coutard's cinematography, one that is restored with the assistance of the filmmakers themselves, in a process detailed at the beginning before the opening credits. Filmed in Cambodia with help extended by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, it brings about one of the best war stories ever told in the extended Vietnam War from the French point of view, which is rare in itself, and sucker punches its peers, especially those done by Hollywood, set around the same era.Told in a day by day account, we follow the titular platoon who got ordered to abandon their fortified position in order to retreat southwards, but little do they know that once out of their comfort zone, they're plunged right into warfare with the enemy Vietminh soldiers hot on their heels, turning into a cat and mouse pursuit of trying to gain the upperhand against the enemy rather than to constantly be on the run. It's the time where the winds of change in Indochina see the Viet Minh soldiers relentlessly pushing the French troops from their soil, even urging their brothers on the side of the French to mutiny and betray their Caucasian commanders, who are headed by quite the inept military commander lacking savvies of warfare.Its portrayal of war is something that only those who have gone through warfare or at least some basic military training will be able to ascertain how accurate things got portrayed, from the fullpack inspection (which uncovered a tied up piglet!) to how commanders aren't sometimes the most experienced or smart on the battlefield, with the warrant officers, specialists and men, in this case, the locals, being shown to have more courage, loyalty and all round shrewdness in fighting an non-fightable war given being grossly outnumbered to begin with. Many situations put on screen undoubtedly come from the director Pierre Schoendoerffer having witnessed how it's conducted and having their fair share of experiences on the battlefield, and this helped to translate authenticity to the movie despite having to shoot in very harsh environments.In black and white which contributed to its very stark, gritty and no nonsense imagery to war and its horrors, The 317th Platoon also takes a look at warfare itself and how it impacts the most immediate soldiers who have to partake in it, following orders to a T in order to survive as a group. Quintessential war film themes like courage and camaraderie also feature prominently, with Coutard's cinematography putting the audience into the thick of the action as if one of the troops listening to orders, and executing combat movement with the rest.If you'd think Oliver Stone's Platoon, Brian De Palma's Casualties of War and Randall Wallace's We Were Soldiers are some of the best about the Vietnam War put on film, then you surely must get your hands on this to have a go at what would be a presentation outside of Hollywood, and a Franch one at that which served as the pre-cursor of events to everything else aforementioned. Recommended!

I saw this movie some 35 years ago on TV and its memory has been with me ever since. My father and I happened upon it late one night and were stricken by its integrity, clarity of message, and visual beauty (note: B/W).The melancholy of men in a desperate cause has haunted me ever since. The unwinnable pursuit paints a picture of doom that my generation would forever associate with Vietnam and later with other military endeavours; the name of Dien Bien Phu would be associated with this party that dwindles as it traverses the jungle. No other film on the Vietnam war has reached the same effect for me; not "Platoon", none of these. Bear in mind that this comment comes from outside the US.Memorable phrase, for some maybe not so relevant reason, the men at the hand-cranked dynamo radio (a huge affair) calling their no more responding party, "Alo, Alo, Lima Bravo." Would be glad to know of reliable source for a VHS or DVD copy.

America made many movies about the Viet Nam war, good ones and bad ones. On the contrary, France didn't make films about the Indochina and Algeria wars. But "la 317e" is not only rare because of this, but also because it shows war as it was really fought, not by Rambo-like superheroes, but by simple men, some courageous, some not... Besides, Shloendorffer is a great film maker, and you can feel during the film that hes was really there, that he shared tragic hours with these men.