The Statement

Plot synopsis:
Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine), a French Nazi collaborator, orders seven Jews executed during World War II. Some 40 years later, he is pursued by "David Manenbaum" (Matt Craven), a hitman who is under orders to kill Brossard and leave a printed 'Statement' on his body proclaiming the assassination was vengeance for the Jews executed in 1944. Brossard kills "Manenbaum," hiding the dead body after finding the printed "Statement" and discovering that his pursuer was travelling on a Canadian passport. Brossard for years has taken refuge in sanctuaries in southern France within the Traditionalist Catholic community, appealing to long-time allies who have operated in great secrecy to shield him and provide him with funds. But now they bring increased scrutiny to themselves for continuing to do so.
The murder of "Manenbaum" attracts the interest of local police and eventually the persistent Investigating Judge Annemarie Livi (Tilda Swinton). She becomes absorbed by the case, not discouraged by the lack of assistance she encounters from official sectors. Livi forms an alliance with the similarly dedicated Colonel Roux (Jeremy Northam), a senior French Gendarmerie investigator, and the pair initially suspect that "Manenbaum" was part of a Jewish assassination plot. They discover that Brossard has been the subject of several previous investigations, dating back more than 40 years, which have all failed. Livi and Roux discover hidden resources, tightening the noose around Brossard, who finds his allies increasingly reluctant to help him. Doubts arise over the theory of a Jewish hit squad, but it is clear that someone wants Brossard dead.
Brossard in desperation pays a surprise visit to his estranged wife Nicole (Charlotte Rampling), a maid who is living in lower-middle-class circumstances in Marseille and is very apprehensive about seeing him again. Brossard's allies, including certain priests and a wartime colleague who has risen into a position of great power within the French government, are feeling the heat from the relentless questioning of Livi and Roux. Now desperate and unsure whom to trust, Brossard seeks new identity papers and money so he can escape France forever. But he is now living on borrowed time.

Tags: revenge, dark, murder, flashback

Review:
It's about a French collaborator, the Vichy Government, France's failure to confront the role its officials -- some still in power -- played in the Holocaust, and the efforts of right wingers in the Catholic Church to shelter the collaborator.
Michael Caine is superb in the leading role, and Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam are excellent as the judge and army colonel who are trying to bring him to justice while those who formerly hid him seek to execute him, blaming a non-existent group of Jewish vigilantes.
He was clearly fascinated by questions of faith, of good and evil - and he boldly tackled these themes in "The Statement."    In France in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were several prominent cases of Vichy-era collaborators who were belatedly brought to justice by the French court system.
Moore was clearly fascinated by the way in which leading members of the French governmental and bureaucratic system continued to hide unpleasant truths about their own pasts - and by the role of the Catholic Church in France in providing refuge and assistance to some individuals who had been involved in the persecution and round-up of Jews.
Caine isn't a caricatured film villain - not like Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List" or John Malkovich in "Ripley's Game."   But in a real sense, it's all the more disturbing that he seems like "just another innocuous old man."It was disappointing to me to see that fine performers Jeremy Northam and Tilda Swinton with so little to do in the film - other than looking bewildered as Caine's character continues to elude their grasp.
Pierre Brossard ( Michael Caine ) committed crimes against humanity and collaborated with Nazis in WWII .
Jewison cast some largely known actors as Michael Caine , his wife well played by Charlote Rampling , the starring duo as Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam , and a remarkable support cast as Ciaran Hinds as Inspector Pochon , Alan Bates as Bertier , Frank Finlay as the Comissaire and several others .
He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984).The film terminates with an epilogue based on real events , that says the following : ¨At 5:00 am , on June 29, 1944, in Rilleux -La-Pape, France, seven Jews were executed ¨.
I've read some people comment about how the characters in THE STATEMENT film should speak with French accents as the film is set in France.
Intelligent movie-going audiences are supposed to be able to suspend their disbelief and assume early on that the characters are French, because the fact that they are French is, frankly, unimportant...The idea is for English speaking audiences to follow the plot and identify somewhat with the characters, and it's far easier to do that without the use of distractingly bad foreign accents.
So unless you commit to allowing the actors to speak the actual language, the next best thing is to have them go with the actors' native language, especially since the filmakers are trying to appeal to English speaking audiences!I've also noticed a couple of people being quite critical of the moment when Caine's character kicks a dog.
And this is why I believe THE STATEMENT will be a film that will stand the test of time...much like Michael Caine's 1971 film GET CARTER, which received mixed reviews upon it's first release but has become a celebrated classic over the years!
Someone I know who hadn't been to the cinema in decades saw The Statement last week and has had his faith in film restored by this movie.I can't understand why newspaper critics focussed on the fact that French accents weren't used.
Telling of an aging  French-Nazi war criminal who finds himself on the run and squeezed in the jaws of subterfuge, "The Statement" is too vague in its historical flashbacks, gives poor depth into its sundry characters, breaches realism with a bunch of Brits in France, never makes its agenda clear, and doesn't sort itself out well in the end...to mention just a few of the flaws.
The motivations of the characters are never that well developed; the Livi/Roux parts are dull and quite routine although the sections with Brossard are more interesting.It is a shame then that the film cannot decide what it wants to do with him  do we feel for him, hate him or just watch him?
adopt Gallic accents - that would have been too much to bare.As for the film itself, it seemed a complete waste of police time to have half of the French PD chasing round after an OAP with a heart condition who'd been *ordered* to kill seven people 50 years earlier during German occupation.
In Norman Jewison's tepid thriller, `The Statement,' English-accented Michael Caine plays Pierre Brossard, an aging French war criminal whose past has begun to catch up with him.
And although the French authorities have been unsuccessful in their attempts to locate him, Brossard has recently found himself the target of a mysterious group of assassins, possibly members of a secret Jewish organization seeking justice for his yet unavenged crimes against humanity.The idea of a Nazi war criminal still living in hiding all these years after the end of World War II has the makings of an interesting movie, no doubt, but `The Statement' is not that movie.
One also questions the propriety of taking a serious subject like Nazi atrocities and using it as little more than cheap window dressing for an undistinguished, run-of-the-mill thriller.`The Statement,' despite another fine performance from the ever-reliable Michael Caine, is a tired, lackluster and cynical exercise, strangely devoid of meaning, conviction and purpose..
Your comments will be displayed as follows: A good adaptation of Brian Moore's thriller novel, director Norman Jewison's "The Statement" has its ups and downs.Michael Caine, who has played many English roles as well as being an American abortion providing doctor, now takes on elderly Frenchman Pierre Brossard, once a shining star of the toady Vichy police force without which the Nazis could never have murdered some 77,000 French Jews.
He's been sheltered for forty years by members of the Catholic clergy.Tilda Swinton is Judge Levy assigned along with Jeremy Northam, a French army colonel, to find and bring Brossard to trial based on a new law reviving prosecutions against those who committed crimes against humanity.
Imagine Judge Judy flitting about in a chopper ferreting out facts.) At times I thought I was watching a travelogue about the abbeys of Gaul.There are, of course, hints of a dark conspiracy reaching beyond the Church that I won't reveal.Caine's peripatetic suspect is deeply religious in the formulaic sense that absolution and ritual salve his conscience but in no way mediate his actions.
Caine plays a dirtbag to perfection.Possibly to avoid charges that the film is unfairly anti-Catholic we're told that1) the Church is vast, has many subordinate bodies, and those at the top just can't know all that is happening (this defense comes from a gentle librarian-Jesuit priest who also happens to be black, the predominant racial group in the French church).2) responsibility for aiding genocide by clerics was individual so don't trot out any revisionist Hochhuth/Cornwell/Goldenhagen theories arraigning the Church's leadership.3) we can't forget that the Resistance was largely communist so maybe there's a rational justification for Vichy's supine collaboration and the very real clerical support for the Nazis if not for every French assisted atrocity.I despise the mindless Francophobic reaction to France's lack of support for U.S. policy on Iraq.
He plays the lead in this film, a harrowed, contemptible Vichy official who was responsible for the deaths of some Jews during the War, who now as an old man is fleeing the people who want to catch him.
Pierre Brossard is a man hiding an ugly past - he collaborated with the Vichy Regime in Nazi occupied France during WWII.
There's sort of a critique of Catholic Church's attitude during the Holocaust (how they turned a blind eye to it), and after it (sheltering some Nazis that had a warrant for arrest).The movie has kind of a classic style, it's been brilliantly filmed and the presence of Michael Caine is nothing but a nice present for all those who love cinema.*My rate: 7/10.
The entire message of the film is utterly simplistic: collaborating with the Nazis, bad; relentlessly hunting down Nazi collaborators, good."The Statement" plays out like a run-of-the-mill police detective story, with the 70-something lead character (played by Michael Caine) ludicrously providing most of the action/adventure sequences.
As things stand, his guilt, his attacks of conscience and his religious faith come off as phony and self-serving, rather than genuine contrition.Some may call me a nitpicker, but it irked me that the French characters in this film were portrayed and voiced by quintessentially English actors.
Caine is the best thing about this rambling and languidly paced suspenser about a true life French policeman who assisted the Nazis in WWII is now being pursued by the dogged investigator Swinson and Northam while marked for execution.
Based on a true story, Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine in a finely nuanced tragic performance) worked with the Vichy regime during the Nazi occupation of France and was responsible for the murders of seven Jews in 1944.
A new French Judge (Tilda Swinton in another fine performance) and military Colonel Roux (Jeremy Northam) join forces (somewhat unwillingly) and commit themselves to ferreting out Brossard.
In looking through the other comments here and listening to responses as I left the theater after watching 'The Statement,' I've noticed a lot of criticism about the use of English actors using English accents in a movie set in France.I won't venture to discuss the merit of this choice, but I wanted to point out, in case anyone is that interested, that this is an old stage tradition.
Norman Jewison's film version of a little-known Brian Moore novel posits a few interesting ideas - the role that the Catholic Church has played in sheltering Nazi collaborators from justice and whether it is right to pursue an otherwise penitent man for crimes committed fifty years earlier.
Given the subject matter, a director with a record for top-notch entertainments, a first-rate cast and a script by the redoubtable Ronald Harwood, the film itself never catches fire, at best passing the time rather than actively engaging the emotions.One fault may be in accepting the high-toned, plummy British cast as French, (Tilda Swinton gives a terrible performance as the judge on the trail of Michael Caine's war criminal).
I think there was no chemistry in this movie whatsoever except for the scene 1/4 of the way through with Michael Caine and his ex-wife (Charlotte Rampling).
While this is an interesting thrill ride (and Caine is a marvelous actor), the problems associated with the movie detract too much to make it worth watching.The basic story involves a former Nazi affiliate being hunted down after avoiding execution for over 40 years.
The viewer needs a little more affinity with the young female judge or one of the people pursuing the murderer for his crimes against humanity if we are to engage this film beyond its action-adventure.Secondly, the story is set entirely in France with all French characters, yet NO ONE speaks French!
I can't believe Michael Caine made something this poor at this point in his career.And now adding more content to satisfy IMDb's requirements: Michael Caine plays an ex-Nazi French collaborator; he "acts" exceedingly nervous throughout the film helped no doubt by the liberal application of some oil-based lubricant to his face; Church officials are of course portrayed as deeply corrupt and dishonest, protecting their pro-fascist sympathies until the heat gets turned on them when naturally they sell out their own man, and so on.
Back in 1943, Vichy leader Marshal Petain created the military force Milice to assist the Nazis.This movie should be an action thriller with Jeremy Northam hunting down his prey Michael Caine.
Michael Caine plays a Frenchman, Pierre Broussard, who collaborated with the Nazis during the war in "The Statement" from 2002.
Although his distinctly British accent subtracts from his performance, Michael Caine is given quite a good character too work with, even if the film does seem a tad ambiguous as to whether or not we are meant to side with him.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsPierre Brossard (Michael Caine) was a traitorious Nazi collaborator during World War 2 and was responsible for war crimes in France.He was caught,convicted and sentenced to death but managed to evade his punishment.For nearly 50 years,he has managed to evade his pursuers and has been offered refuge and absolution by the Catholic church.However,a mysterious new chain of events mean that his number may soon be up...Veteran director Norman Jewison certainly has an intriguing concept on his hands with The Statement.Unfortunately,he doesn't have quite so intriguing a film.Caine's frenzied,forceful lead performance certainly gives you the impression that he's immersed in his role,but is sadly too hammy and never natural enough to convince you fully in any way.Although we're subconsciously aware that he is the bad guy and that he was responsible for appalling atrocities,the script,admittently,does cleverly confuse us whether to hope the authorities catch him and deliver him his comeuppance or whether to root for him as he flees his persuers.Unfortunately,for the most part,it fails to interest us in any way and thus the above OLS really says everything you need to know.**.
The film is full of some fairly decent British actors  Frank Finlay, Alan Bates, Tilda Swinton, Charlotte Rampling (the only French-speaking one, presumably)  yet it comes over like a shoddy made-for-TV daytime movie.
This is something touch on in the excellent recent film Le Promeneur du champ de Mars (2005).The funny thing is, you actually start empathasing for Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine), the Klaus Barbie-style war criminal of southern, Vichy France, and hope that he escapes whenever he nearly gets caught.
Even his killing of the assassin at the beginning of the film is genuinely self-defence, and Brossard seems genuinely full of remorse and religious guilt for his war-time crimes.The other factor is the amateurish political corruption plotting, where we never know who the real people are chasing Brossard  are they Mossad-style vengers or agents of powerful political figures, successful but tainted by their war-time activities in Vichy France..
This movie can be enjoyed for its high production values, excellent acting (particularly Michael Caine and "ice queen" Tilda Swinton), and looking at the wonderful on-location photography of Europe.
,he almost makes us side with him.A collaborator in occupied France during WW2,he was responsible for the death of seven Jews and he was never punished for what he had done.Pierre Brossard puts his trust in God,and he's always praying Saint-Christopher and begging absolution from his crimes.Outside Caine,best performance comes from Charlotte Rampling ,who,as always,makes the best of an underwritten part.But the screenplay is a novel transferred to the screen ,and it's a NOVEL.There are as many holes in the plot as in Swiss cheese.The judge (a woman of course)and the military man are cardboard characters (but we are spared the love affair between them,just for that,M.Jewison,thank you!!!),and actually we could easily do without them.One of the judge's uncles is a minister/secretary,no less!
It's true that fundamentalist Christians have a tendency to support the far right.But making so many abbeys of the South of France a shelter for people like Brossard ,demands such an imagination...It seems that every priest, every monk and every nun of my country are here to protect those who killed the Jews !One often forgets that there are many of them who helped and saved children during those darker days of French history.I have not read the book but I do not feel like doing it.A movie was made in the eighties about Beate Klarsfeld (TV).People complained because they chose Farah Fawcett to portray her ,but at least it was based on accurate historical facts (Klaus Barbie)..
Pierre Brossard, (Michael Caine) was present during the execution of these Jewish people and after many many years pass, Pierre is still being hunted down and goes into hiding within the walls of the Catholic Church in France and he is even given financial help in order to stay protected from being killed.
I don't think so.That said, if you haven't seen the film, you would like to stop reading at this point.Pierre Brossard has led an easy life in the years after the end of the war.
Michael Caine plays a pathetic wretch who, 40 years ago, participated in the murder of seven Jews in France.
Michael Caine once again has done an outstanding job in his role as a French military or police collaborator in Nazi-occupied Vichi France during WWII.
This is a fact that shouldn't be overlooked.If I understand this storyline correctly, Caine's character, Pierre, was a Frenchman who became a Nazi collaborator in Vichi France.
While he was in hiding, he was given a full pardon by the president of France, supposedly through the influence of the Catholic church and friendly high members of the French government who also had a hidden Vichi past.But, now as an old and sick man, Pierre's problems began anew when the World Court enacted the "Crimes Against Humanity" laws.
The English actors gave strong performances, despite my needless diatribes, especially Michael Caine as the Nazi collaborator and Tilda Swinton as the French War Crimes Prosecutor, well as Colin Salmon and various characters that I know only by face.
So there's Michael Caine, Frank Finlay, Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling and Tilda Swinton, but the mystery isn't who among the French establishment is protecting a number of ageing Vichy murderers, but what this august group is doing in a film which is sadly little more than a TV film with a bigger budget.