p In 一九五四 Vietnam, at the time of Diên Biên Phu, a French unit on patrol under the command of an inexperienced lieutenant is gradually depleted by Vietminh until only an ex-Wehrmacht Alsatian adjutant remains He is to die, a title informs us, in Algeria in 一九六0 Semi-documentary in style, this is an effectively low-key appraisal of the difficult choices with which war confronts its soldiers As so often in Vietnam films the enemy is only glimpsed from a distance, the camera remaining a disembodied observer among the group Bertrand Tavernier acted as co-writer on the film p