Good movie but grossly overrated

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's April 22, 1988. Three or four gendarmes are dead and 30 kidnapped by Kanak separatists on the eve of the presidential election in France. They are sending in a platoon of 50 paras to New Caledonia. The PM sends in the Army to take control. There is a political competition between Mitterrand and Chirac, and everything is caught up in it. GIGN Captain Philippe Legorjus (Mathieu Kassovitz) and his men end up following the Army's orders. But soon they have to struggle against the army's barbaric tactics.It's a good historical drama. It's a bit simplistic with the Army being all bad. I'm not familiar with any of this story to have an opinion about its validity. All I can say is that it works as a dramatic movie.

I stumbled upon this one while browsing through Matthieu Kassovitz's filmography only because i've been acquainted with his previous work. However, it seems that Hollywood remains merciless and after one not-bad movie like Gothika (2003) and one sub-par like Babylon A.D. (2008) Mathieu had to turn back to France for funding.Rebellion (L'ordre et la morale) is as dramatic but not as much action driven as, for example, Black Hawk Down (2001) or Saving Private Ryan (2008), yet we know almost everything about the latter movies and virtually nothing about Rebellion. And at times it paints the big picture as monumental as Apocalypse Now (1979). So, i tried to understand why is this movie kept below radar level.Probably the main reasons are that it's in French and portraying events on an almost forgotten island in Pacific Ocean. But as the story develops we encounter all axioms of colonialism (ore deposit, indigenous people striving for independence, disinterested politicians, trigger-happy military) creating a powder keg bound to explode.Trapped in the middle is a negotiator played by Mathieu Kassovitz himself. He is usually good at what he's doing, but politicians would like to see a quick solution in the light of impending elections. Military is excited to see some action and there is little need for a negotiator that would like to resolve the deadlock by talking to the rebels.This is enough to give you a flavor of what you see in Rebellion, but also leaves you with a question why we don't know about it. Obviously, there are other things that make a movie popular apart from good script, captivating photography and exquisite performance by the actors. Yet i always feel bad when a stupefying blockbuster gets more media attention than a masterpiece like Rebellion.

This is the best Mathieu Kasssovitz' picture up now. This one, he thought about it since a while now. He did not make it only to pay his bills. It will remain his masterpiece. Nothing to do with BABYLON AD, that was not his actual work. Every movie lover knows that.This very one tells in details everything about the famous and bloody affair of the Ouvea cave, which occurred in May 1988, where the french army elite troops annihilated the local rebels - the Kanaks - who had taken a bunch of soldiers as hostages. This film is awesome because we don't find here any good soldiers vs bad rebels or bad soldiers vs good rebels scheme. The real ugly ones are ONLY the politicians who ordered the slaughter of the rebels, despite the hostages' lives!!! And only to serve their own politics purposes, power purposes. Because the close presidential elections. When you think of this movie, even long after seeing it, you may feel dizzy. You may puke on yourself. I am not proud to be a french citizen after watching this real gem.

L'ordre et la morale hits you like a sweet 3 punch combo...body, body, head...everything is on point, image (the opening scene, the helicopter landings, the reconstitution of the attack on the police station, the Mitterand/Chirac debate, the breathing jungle, the assault on the cave, Kassovitz's character in the helicopter upon learning of the second assault), sound, script (special mention to Alphonse's monologue by the fire, the old man's message from the rest of the village to the hostage takers and pretty much any of the scenes with the ambassador or the generals...minimal but extremely effective use of music...easily one of the best french films of the past ten years. Thank you Mr. Kassovitz.