This 1984 adventure epic boasts the talents of France's foremost actor, Gerard Depardieu, the beautiful Catherine Deneuve, lavish photography, and one of the biggest budgets in French filmmaking history. Unfortunately, the sum is considerably less than its parts.
Set in the early 1900s during the French colonization of North Africa, FORT SAGANNE concerns the exploits of Charles Saganne (Depardieu), who rises from peasant stock to become a leader in the Foreign Legion. Cheated out of officer's training due to his humble background, young Saganne is sent
to the Sahara Desert, where he serves under an implacable colonel, Dubreuilh (Philippe Noiret). He distinguishes himself when he is sent on a mission to convince a fence-sitting tribal chieftain, Amajar (Said Amadis), to side with the French in their struggles with the Muslims. On the way,
Saganne's unit defeats a band of Berber warriors, and defies border guards to escort displaced women and children back to Senegal. He eventually finds Amajar near death, his tribe slaughtered. Using the contents of a toolbox, Saganne performs a crude operation, saving Amajar's life.
On his return to his post, Saganne is hailed as a hero. He is sent to Paris to speak to reporters and engender public support for a harsher colonial policy. His mission fails, but he manages an affair with Louise Tissot (Catherine Deneuve), a prominent journalist. The relationship ends when
Saganne learns that his attempts to keep his younger brother (Florent Ragny) from marrying a disreputable woman have resulted in the woman's suicide. Saganne is put in command of a desolate outpost, which he defends against repeated attacks from Arab dissidents. His glorious victories earn him the
Legion of Honor. Saganne returns to Paris and marries Madeleine (Sophie Marceau), a young beauty whose socially prominent family had previously snubbed him. Their bliss is brief, for Saganne returns to the action in the Algerian campaign of 1914, where he is killed on the battlefield. In 1922, the
fort which Saganne defended is renamed in his honor.
Superbly staged by director Alain Corneau (ALL THE MORNINGS IN THE WORLD), with breathtaking panoramic photography by Bruno Nuytten, the film is most impressive visually. But the story, based on the real-life adventures of novelist Louis Gardel's grandfather, plods along at a sluggish pace, and
its view of colonialism seems shallow and almost willfully naive--especially in comparison with the political and psychological complexity of its obvious model, David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Lengthy discussions of military strategies and contemporary events are punctuated by grandly staged
battlefield sequences and too-brief glimpses into Saganne's personal life. Though he appears in nearly every frame, Depardieu's character remains inscrutable throughout the three-hour long film. The supporting cast is uniformly competent, with top honors going to Noiret's rendition of a zealous
colonel. (Violence, nudity, sexual situations, adult situations, profanity.) leave a comment