60 minutes / Color
English; French; Spanish / English subtitles
Release: 2004
Copyright: 2003
"Our war was very efficient. In three years, the subversives were annihilated."- General Ramon Diaz Bessone of Argentina
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, much of Latin America was under the control of brutal military juntas engaged in what they perceived as a life-and-death war against communists. The role of the United States' government in this has been well documented, but until now, France's contribution was more shadowy.
DEATH SQUADRONS: THE FRENCH SCHOOL convincingly reveals French veterans of the wars in Indochina and Algeria provided the inspiration, the training, and some of the intelligence that allowed Latin America's dictators to torture and kill thousands of their own citizens.
Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin traces the development of the theory of counter-revolutionary warfare, first tested Indochina and in Algiers (where 20,000 civilians died). Some of its foremost practitioners, like French General Paul Aussaresses, freely admit their contributions, even with a hint of pride. Others are surreptitiously captured on a hidden camera, admitting high-level political and military links between the dictators and the French government. Many of those interviewed are now either in custody or under indictment.
Though little documentary footage of these practices exists, the Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo realistically recreated the French interrogation methods in The Battle of Algiers. (The Battle of Algiers was recently shown to American officers confronted with ongoing attacks on their personnel in Iraq, and excerpts from this film illustrate DEATH SQUADRONS).
DEATH SQUADRONS also shows how, during the 1960's, the French were instrumental in training U.S. officers at Fort Bragg on counter-insurgency techniques that were later used by the U.S. military in Vietnam.
DEATH SQUADRONS serves a cautionary note about what can happen when governments and the military are convinced that enemies are everywhere, and that any means necessary can be employed to fight them. It's an important lesson to bear in mind as the war on terror continues.
"[A] chilling reminder of what happens when unaccountable security forces and governments arrogate the right to target presumed enemies with the very terror that they claim to be fighting. DEATH SQUADRONS makes an important contribution to our understanding of the development and dissemination of brutal counterinsurgency tactics in the Americas." —Journal of Latin American Anthropology
"A valuable contribution to the study of state terror. Its intent is to illuminate the lesser-known French role [in Latin America], and in that it succeeds exceptionally well. Robin makes skillful use of rare documentary footage interspersed with her interviews. Highly Recommended for undergraduate and graduate students as well as experts." —The Americas: A Quarterly Journal of Inter-American Cultural History
“Marie-Monique Robin mines the hidden vein of French culpability, demonstrating in a volley of meticulously detailed research drawn in part from recently declassified intelligence files… Absolutely blood-chilling." —Senses of Cinema
Select Accolades
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Nick London | 2005 | 48 minutes | Color | English
Exposes the massacre, cover-up, and the years of denial of what was undoubtedly one of the darkest nights in the history of France.
Philip Brooks & Alan Hayling | 2003 | 52 minutes | Color | French; English | English subtitles | Closed Captioned
Investigates the human rights and legal issues involved when two Salvadoran generals are sued in an American court for atrocities (such as the murder of four American churchwomen) committed during El Salvador's civil war.
Gail Pellett | 2002 | 86 minutes | Color | English
The story of the landmark legal case against General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, before and after his arrest in London in 1998.
Patricio Guzmán | 2002 | 109 minutes | Color | English; Spanish | English subtitles
