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15 MINUTES OF WAR
Director: Fred Grivois Cast: Alban Lenoir, Olga Kurylenko, Sébastien Lalanne, Kevin Layne, David Murgia, Michaël Abiteboul, Guillaume Labbé, Ben Cura, Vincent Perez, Josiane Balasko MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:38 Release Date: 8/2/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 1, 2019 Wisely, 15 Minutes of War is only inspired by the 1976 hostage situation in Loyada, Djibouti, in which 31 children were abducted by Somali militants. What happens in the film is basically what happened in reality, so there's still some discomfort in the thought that writer/director Fred Grivois (in writing collaboration with Ileana Epsztajn and Jérémie Guez) could be exploiting complicated real-world politics and real-life tragedy for the cheap, sensationalistic thrills of an action movie. The most obvious argument against that view is that Grivois doesn't get to any action until the story's climax. That's a simple argument, of course, but it seems as if it's sound enough in this case. Here, the film is entirely about the build-up to a standoff, in which everyone sets and re-adjusts their strategies based on unseen political talks, the mounting difficulties of the situation, and the constant reminder that the lives of, in the case of the film's version of the story, about 20 children are in immediate peril. A school bus is hijacked by a group led by Barkhad (Kevin Layne), who's given just enough of a voice to be more than a generic villain. After the bus crashes outside the border with Somalia, a team of hostage-rescue specialists (perhaps too jokey under the circumstances), led by André (Alban Lenoir), is flown in from Paris. While French soldiers on the ground await official orders, the kids' teacher Jane (Olga Kurylenko) rushes to the bus to do what she can to keep the children safe. This isn't a film about action. It's one about strategy. It isn't about exploitative melodrama. It's about the mechanics of how a rescue operation is planned (and re-planned) and eventually, after a lot of discussion and debate and second-guessing, orchestrated. It isn't—perhaps to the film's detriment (if only because the screenplay broadly raises the topic)—about the politics of then-colonized Djibouti's history and future, relative to the narrative's period. The only thing that matters to the characters, on the ground and in this moment, is saving the lives of these children. Grivois explains the operational complications and stages the assorted pieces—from the soldiers, to the specialists, to the hijackers, and to their backup, all in relation to the bus—with clarity. In 15 Minutes of War, we understand what's happening with every move, every stall, and every bullet. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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