Unlike his most famous works as a director, which are thrillers (the best being certainly "toi le venin" ),this one takes place in South America , where revolutionary guerilleros take the president's daughter hostage ,after the attack of a train and a massacre.
The fight is already lost because some of the men are not convinced by their revolution; some (Mario Adorf) would like to get a hefty ransom ,a young one ,in love with the prisoner he compares to a madonna , would like to take her back to her father and thus betray his companions.
A slow-moving movie, with some good scenes , which stems from Hossein's flair for film noir: the walking through the main street of a town,between two rows of hanged men ; the discovery of a tortured man in the night ; the final on the beach ; the great Madeleine Robinson has only one scene but she makes it count :"what's the point of carrying on so meaningless a fight ? What are you gonna win? Is it worth at all?.
José Giovanni would resume the subject of the illusive revolution in "le rapace"(1968) and surpass Hossein.
The fight is already lost because some of the men are not convinced by their revolution; some (Mario Adorf) would like to get a hefty ransom ,a young one ,in love with the prisoner he compares to a madonna , would like to take her back to her father and thus betray his companions.
A slow-moving movie, with some good scenes , which stems from Hossein's flair for film noir: the walking through the main street of a town,between two rows of hanged men ; the discovery of a tortured man in the night ; the final on the beach ; the great Madeleine Robinson has only one scene but she makes it count :"what's the point of carrying on so meaningless a fight ? What are you gonna win? Is it worth at all?.
José Giovanni would resume the subject of the illusive revolution in "le rapace"(1968) and surpass Hossein.