Captain Conan

Original title: Capitaine Conan

1996
2h 9m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

The war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.The war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.The war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

2.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 10 wins & 10 nominations total

Photos12

+ 6

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Goofs
Although the film goes to praiseworthy lengths to be faithful in the accurate recreation of costumes of the era, including uniforms, there are some inaccuracies. During the assault in the mountains, a pair of Senegalese Riflemen (Tirailleurs Sénégalais) can be seen wearing their recognisable red fez, waistbands and dark blue uniforms. However, the film takes place in 1918 and the colonial soldiers would not have worn this uniform since 1915. Instead they would have worn the same khaki uniforms and Adrian helmets as the rest of the Balkans expeditionary corps, khaki dress that colonial troops would have also worn on the Western Front, to differentiate themselves from the 'Horizon Blue' wearing 'metropolitan' (mainland France) troops.

Connections
Featured in Capitaine Tavernier (2014)

Soundtracks
La Mouquère à Germain
Music by Oswald d'Andrea
Lyrics by Jean Cosmos

User reviews13

Review

Featured review

9/10

Very good war film

This is in many ways a very good war film but not in the typical way. The film opens in the closing days of WW1 on the Eastern Front where Capitaine Conan (Philippe Torreton in a Cesar winning performance) leads a band of ruthless hand to hand fighters, equivalent to a modern special forces unit. They prove themselves far more effective than the regular army in the final defeat and are envied by many including a friend of Conan, Lt Norbet (Samuel Le Bihan, IIRC was nominated for a Cesar in this). But when the armistice is signed Conan and his men find themselves in limbo while Norbert, working for the Court Martials finds himself accusing the very men he admired for robbery and murder. This film does take a while to get going but it is worth it, giving time for the characters to develop and also establishing the monotony the soldiers find, going from combat to walking the streets of Bucharest. The film also deals with the beginnings of the Russian Civil War and the problem of soldiers fighting with no motivation. Tavernier's direction is superb and visually the film equals a number of classic war films while the performances help to give it an edge as it goes into territory that Hollywood war film's in particular have tended not to go into.