Capitaine Conan

Historical war drama from French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, examining returning World War I soldiers and the troubled lives they lead after the savagery of the battlefield. Based on the 1934 autobiographical novel by Roger Vercel.

The AV Club describes the film as "a complicated, deeply affecting WWI drama set in the semi-official war zone of southeast Europe, where the War To End All Wars sputtered on for some time after the declaration of peace...

"Philippe Torreton plays the title character, a courageous but unconventional officer in charge of a group of soldiers who are rough even by military standards. Fiercely protective of his men (whom he sees as the kind of unappreciated front-line cannon fodder who truly won the war) even after it's made clear the destructive impulses of some have been redirected toward innocent civilians, Torreton finds himself at odds with the military machinery."

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