L'avocat de la terreur

Jun 6 2007 Unrated 2h 15m
Biography, Documentary, History

A documentary on Jacques Vergès, the controversial lawyer and former Free French Forces guerrilla, exploring how Vergès assisted, from the 1960s onwards, anti-imperialist terrorist cells operating in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Participants interviewed include Algerian nationalists Yacef Saadi, Zohra Drif, Djamila Bouhired and Abderrahmane Benhamida, Khmer Rouge members Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, once far-left activists Hans-Joachim Klein and Magdalena Kopp, terrorist Carlos the Jackal, lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, neo-Nazi Ahmed Huber, Palestinian politician Bassam Abu Sharif, Lebanese politician Karim Pakradouni, political cartoonist Siné, former spy Claude Moniquet, novelist and ghostwriter Lionel Duroy, and investigative journalist Oliver Schröm.

Official Trailer
Plot

An examination of the career of Jacques Vergès, attorney for members of Algeria's FLN, Palestine's FPLP, the Khmer Rouge, Carlos and associates, Klaus Barbie, and other revolutionaries and outcasts. Archival footage, news articles, and photographs mix with contemporary interviews of Vergès, friends, associates, and historians. Connections with Nazis are explored, as well as Vergès's marriage to Djamila Bouhared, his courtroom methods, his disappearance from 1970 to 1978, and the roots of his radicalism. Throughout, Vergès remains playful and charming, with a soupçon of arrogance. The film suggests Vergès's anti-colonial nature is at his center.

Written by

N/A

Directed by

Barbet Schroeder

Cast

Jacques Vergès, Klaus Barbie, Barbet Schroeder

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

France

Production Companies

Magnolia Pictures

Languages

Deutsch, Français, English

Awards

2 wins & 5 nominations

Trailers
TERRORS ADVOCATE - "Jaw-Dropping" NY Times
Scores
# of Votes
1,773
Average Rating
7.1 out of 10
Metascore
75
Popularity
NA