The Pundit

I saw Ben Barka get killed

By Jess Friedmann ⋅ August 6, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I saw Ben Barka get killed is a fairly uninspired crime flick masquerading as a postmodern genre piece. It gets off to a promising start with a neat parody of ’40s noir, with petty crim Georges Figon narrating the discovery of his own dead body by hard bitten detectives in a smoky, moonlit room.

Unfortunately, most of its conceits fall flat. The clever-clever touches, such as having writer Marguerite Duras (a brilliant Josiane Balasko) occasionally address the camera, are distracting and don’t really add much to the story. They also interrupt the pace of the film, so that the kidnapping plot supposedly propelling the action just seems to drag.

It’s a pity, because the central set-up is a good one. Georges (Charles Berling) is given an ‘import-export’ job, and charged with writing a screenplay with Duras about decolonisation. The film will screen at a Third World summit in Cuba, presided over by Mehdi Ben Barka, Moroccan revolutionary and potential political leader. Ben Barka will be the historical advisor for the film, leading to his journeying to France with little security for a meeting with Georges. The job, for Georges, is supposed to end there’but, of course, it doesn’t.

Much could be mined from this premise, but I saw Ben Barka Get Killed never rises above the expected. On the upside, the cinematography is wonderful, with a colour palette straight from French films of the ’60s. There’s also the occasional burst of smart and witty dialogue, although the subtitling doesn’t always gives an accurate sense of the wordplay involved.

Ultimately, Ben Barka collapses under the weight of its own aspirations. Had it stuck to a less convoluted format, it might have been an enjoyable and sharply political romp. As it is, trying to follow the story is not really worth the effort.