I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED

Synopsis

This docudrama explores the kidnapping and probable murder of left-wing Moroccan revolutionary Mehdi Ben Barka, who disappeared while in exile in Paris in 1965 and whose corpse was never found. Bourgeois ex-criminal Georges Figon (Charles Berling) has ambitions to break into film production, but without giving up his links to the Paris underworld. He begins putting together a film about decolonization, to be scripted by Marguerite Duras (Josiane Balasko) and directed by Georges Franju (Jean-Pierre Leaud). He wants Ben Barka (Simon Abkarian) to collaborate on the project, but may have a deadly hidden agenda. Variety magazine said the film's “mix of highbrows, low-lives and film-biz glamour offers a pleasing, brain-stretching buzz” that made it feel like a Parisian version of L.A. Confidential.

Genre

Cast & Credits

• Director:  Said Smihi, Serge Le Péron
• Producer:  Gilles Sandoz
• Scriptwriter:  Frederique Moreau, Said Smihi, Serge Le Péron
• Cinematographer:  Christophe Pollock
• Editor:  Janice Jones
• Composer:  Joan Amargos, Pierre-Alexandre Mati
• Cast (in alphabetical order):  Charles Berling, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Josiane Balasko, Simon Abkarian