As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Blistering performances.

L'ennemi intime (Intimate Enemies) is a raw picture looking at French conscripts during the Algeria War. It was a war that was fought for 8 years between 1954-1962, it was also a war that France failed to even acknowledged had existed until over three decades later. Pic picks up the thread in 1959 and the focal point is the relationship between Lieutenant Terrien (Benoît Magimel) and Sergent Dougnac (Albert Dupontel). The former is the new guy, idealistic, while the latter is the grizzled and battled scarred veteran.The Barbarian Hordes.With the French locked in battle against the Algerian rebels, the film runs the protagonists through the psychological mangler. The horrors of war are born out, with both sides of the conflict depicted with a barbarity that's harrowing in nature. As the pic progresses you can see Terrien being worn down by what he observes, the key being he is losing his idealistic heart. Moral dilemmas are deftly inserted into the screenplay, but disappointingly the political thrum that was driving the conflict is given short shrift.From an action stand point director and co-writer Florent-Emilio Siri strikes hard, with two particular sequences - one a field of fleeing soldiers and the finale involving air-strikes - outstanding in construction. Siri also knows when to tighten the emotional noose, bringing to us poignant scenes that leave a lump in the throat. Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci's cinematography is also to be applauded, muted colours mingle with stark framing compositions to really give the sense of realism that the screenplay demands and deserves.Aside from the lack of political basis (we need to know more about this war), the only other real problems with the piece is the conventionality, and that it inevitably is filled with war film stereotypes. However, this is very good film making and the makers bring the story to vivid life, always remaining fascinating and certainly unforgettable. 8/10

This is a strong film about France's colonial war in Algeria. It has an anti-war message that well demonstrates the evil of colonialism and the self-destructiveness of war on the individual participants.No side is glorified (or put another way both sides are vilified) and indeed we can see that Algeria was a prior version of Vietnam and for that matter our modern day wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The film does not evade controversial subjects like torture – an ugly product of all wars.I felt the characters to be well-defined with a good and engaging script. The main focus is on a novice and idealistic captain who comes to serve his country and begins a slow descent into the abyss.

An incredibly-filmed, gripping, and haunting movie about the horrors of guerrilla warfare, from the perspective of French troops in Algeria. The film is hypnotizing in its portrayal of the way in which violence and torture end up shattering these men's psyche and spirit.The movie is also a good reminder of the hypocrisy of imperial powers. Many French fought the Nazi Germans when they invaded their country in the name of "freedom", but just 20 years later they were trying to crush the Algerian resistance for doing exactly the same thing: opposing a foreign, colonial occupation of their land. Yet the movie avoids simplistic dichotomies and, far from romanticizing the Algerian FLN, it crudely shows the atrocities committed by both sides. The landscapes in which the action takes place are mesmerizing in their crude, gripping, raw beauty.

L'Ennemi Intime is simply a non-movie. What does it take to dish out such an unidentifiable cinematographic object? Producer blindness, too proud to see the vacuum in the project, too proud to have it challenged by some trustworthy colleague.L'Ennemi Intime first (digital) shot sets it all : it is not linked with the beginning of narration and the only purpose is to have the movie title pompously emerge from the horizon. Let's forget it. What's the story? A French platoon is stuck in the middle of The Undeclared War in Algeria. It's not really that they are stuck but there's a sensation they're alone to fight an (oh so) absurd war. Actually they are the French colonial power struggling against the ever elusive rebel forces who will fight to death for their freedom, for Algerian independence.The subtext is clear if you know this part of History, yet the political aspect is buried under the makeshift of a script, I mean the episodic screenplay... well, let's say it more bluntly: the treatment in pictures.Would you believe the storyline is only made of a series of missions that are loosely connected (fight the rebels round the corner)? What else? Nothing. The pitched opposition between the idealistically young Lieutenant and the experienced tough Sergeant is not an opposition, only an easy-going working relationship. Lieutenant Terrien (Magimel) is a bland character with no character arc whatsoever, Sergeant Dougnac (Dupontel) is basically more interesting but nothing interesting happens to him after the opening sequence before Terrien is brought in to helm the bunch.Except for a couple of French-Algerian characters there's almost nobody to root for. The absence of story is all the more palpable as locations are great and the cinematography is excellent. In the end there's a gigantic gap between the graphical aspirations of the director and the inaction imposed over by the script.Obviously the idea was to team up a promising director (Siri) who would deliver the images and a documentary screenwriter (Rotman) who would deliver the contents (historical and controversial yet accurate). The problem is Siri is light on screen-writing and only understands action while Rotman is overwhelmed by his historical knowledge and doesn't know how to write fiction (i.e. loosen the ties of historical accuracy to tell an engaging story featuring interesting fictional characters).BOTTOM LINE. Cinematography and locations: excellent. All the rest is not worth watching.