Retro Film Review: L'Équilibre de la terreur (2006)

Hollywood initially reacted to 9/11 by jingoistic flag-waving support for Global War on Terror, only to do 180 turn and begin to condemn it after the failures in Iraq. It is therefore not surprising that anyone seeking more balanced approach to those serious topics had to look outside Hollywood. One of those examples could be found in France, where Jean-Martial Lefranc wrote and directed 2006 film L'Équilibre de la terreur (“Equilibrium of Terror”), relatively obscure but intriguing film dealing with modern international terrorism.

The plot slightly resembles The Grid, 2004 BBC miniseries. Number of seemingly unrelated individuals and institutions scattered around the world - from the icy wilderness of Murmansk, the ravines on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Washington offices to Parisian immigrant banlieus - are aware and unaware participants in Al-Qaeda's diabolical plan to attack Western targets with nuclear weapons.

In his screenplay, Lefranc quite intelligently "mixed" the classic thriller plot with political commentary, suggesting that the USA is largely responsible for the mess it found itself in on September 11, 2001, and that its war on terror was doomed to fail, with the greatest victims, as usual, being the innocent. The screenplay tries to give the illusion of a kind of documentary by using some elements from the headlines, such as the CIA's collusion with opium producers or Pakistan's sponsorship of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. It also throws in a few truly unexpected twists. Wide range of characters is played by a diverse but quite interesting cast.

Unfortunately, Lefranc's directing abilities are far below his screenwriting ones. Many scenes look like poorly edited music videos, the action is often rushed and incomprehensible, and some scenes - like the flashback in which one of the protagonists illustrates his experiences from 1990s Srebrenica - look like they wandered from a completely different film. To make matters worse, Lefranc is obviously unable to hide the film's rather low budget, leaving the viewer with the impression of watching a rather cheap copy of a much better original. It is quite a pity, because L'Équilibre de la terreur had every potential to make the viewer think about some unpleasant subject more than most Hollywood film were able to do.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9