Customer Reviews

Fort Saganne

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Fort Saganne is one of the most scenic films I've viewed to date. I originally found the movie searching for those that Sophie Marceau starred in, but found that even though she doesn't play much of a part in this film, the scenery and overall story-line of the film was top rate. This is a film I would highly recommend to those who enjoy docufilms and appreciate great photography.

Fort Saganne is not a Foreign Legion story but about the French colonial forces in the Sahara in the years before the First World War. Despite being France's most expensive movie ever in its day, this never got much of a release outside of the French-speaking world. It's not difficult to see why. Following Gerard Depardieu's journey from working class outsider to national hero before ending up a forgotten name on a forgotten fort in a forgotten corner of a lost colony, all the while being used by others for their own ends, the big problem here is tone. Neither adventure story nor criticism of (or apology for) colonial rule, at times it's too low-key for its own good and there's little dramatic spark. It's good on the ardors of desert treks ("The desert is unchanging: we bring motion") and the sheer tedium of garrison life, where boredom is more likely to kill you than the Arabs, but despite the care and grandeur of it all, you never really get involved as much as you should. Phillipe Noiret shines as the French `ruler of the Sahara,' a superb commander as much because of as in spite of his apparent indifference to his men, but his absence in the second half of the film weighs more heavily than it should.

Catherine Deneuve does her best with an utterly ridiculous and redundant role that feels like it was simply added to give the film some added star power (her final appearance behind the front lines, impeccably made up as a nurse is particularly ridiculous), but it's hard not to think the film would be immeasurably better without her. Sophie Marceau, in cold and disinterested mode, is just plain disastrous as the main love interest: she just never seems that bothered despite being obsessed with Saganne. In fact, she barely even seems conscious at times. The film looks gorgeous in Scope but despite a few strong scenes - such as Saganne lost in a ruined city as forgotten by time as Fort Saganne will become, or the trenches of France where the futility finally loses him the hard-earned respect of his men - always feels less than the sum of its parts.

I have heard and read some good things about this film, I'll have to add it to my list of "why isn't there a DVD version" movies.