L'Ennemi intime (Intimate Enemies) (2007)

57% of critics liked it
(14 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(1,304 ratings)

Young lieutenant Terrien (BenoÃ (R)t Magimel, Best Actor Cannes 2001 for The Piano Teacher) takes command of an outpost in Algeria, a country fighting for its independence from France. He befriends a local young boy joining his platoon and a disillusioned veteran (Albert Dupontel, Irreversible). War… More Young lieutenant Terrien (BenoÃ (R)t Magimel, Best Actor Cannes 2001 for The Piano Teacher) takes command of an outpost in Algeria, a country fighting for its independence from France. He befriends a local young boy joining his platoon and a disillusioned veteran (Albert Dupontel, Irreversible). War and its atrocities will quickly put his moral values to the test.Based on historical facts, Intimate Enemies presents a very contemporary look at war, exposing the process which can bring soldiers to torture prisoners or allies to become enemies. --© Outsider

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Florent Emilio Siri
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Oct 3, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jun 24, 2008

Critic Reviews

Mike Hale, New York Times
A movie you've seen before, when it was set on the Apache reservation or in the Vietnamese jungle.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Along the way, Siri exposes French hypocrisy -- showing that the Algerian rebels were only doing what the French Resistance did in battling the Nazis who ruled their country in WorldWar II.
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
With its sententious air of historical reckoning, Enemies is an impressive monument, but not a moving one.
Dennis Harvey, Variety
Visceral and engrossing.
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Says so much that's familiar if not downright clichéd, it winds up saying nothing at all.
Cath Clarke, Guardian [UK]
It's all rather conventional, drawing on the blockbuster big bangs and special effects he must have picked up in Hollywood making the Bruce Willis thriller Hostage.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
A harrowing but formulaic insight into the realities experiened by French conscripts during the Algerian War.
Neil Bastian, BBC
Terrien's journey is more conventional, but still powerful and well acted.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
Director Florent Emilio Siri ('The Nest', 'Hostage') shows ability in action sequences and group dynamics but his film never develops sufficiently to raise it much above the conventional.
Anton Bitel, Film4
a no-holds-barred history with alarming lessons for the current 'War on Terror'.
Denis Seguin, Screen International
Pulls no punches in its depiction of the gruesome nature of guerilla warfare and the ensuing decay of morality.
Barbara Goslawski, Boxoffice Magazine
Truly unforgettable and revelatory, L'Ennemi intime presents a rare glimpse into the realities of war in all its gory detail, tempered with a heartbreaking insight into our inescapably frail human consciousness.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
Rotman's reliance on speechifying to get his points across essentially drains anything even resembling authenticity from the film...