36th Precinct

Crime thriller

France

R1

Palisades Tartan

French with English Subtitles

Although this is a classic good cop – bad cop film, it is a style that is still popular because of its action content. If it’s not to look too old-fashioned the film must include a credible plot and generally good actors. 36th Precinct does this. The 36th Precinct is the 36th arondissement of Paris. Its cops are a mixture of good and bad. The film centres around two of them, Leo Vrinks and Denis Klein. The Commissioner is retiring soon and the two are at loggerheads over who will get his job. Vrinks is the quiet, effective one and is the Commissioner’s pick. Klein, equal in seniority, is the rough, hard man who will beat a confession out of a suspect. Both men have their followers. The Commissioner knows this and must find some way to separate the two.

This conflict between two leading characters is fairly conventional in many police films but here it is done with a certain subdued style rather than the usual American nose-to-nose confrontation. It seems to work better in the French film.

A gang is targeting armoured cars in the area. Their attacks are sudden, violent and usually deadly. They are well armed and well prepared. Whichever officer gets the gang will get the nomination for promotion. Vrinks gets a tipoff call from a prisoner, Silian, on weekend release and they meet that night. The purpose of the meeting, from Vrinks’ point of view, is to get the tipoff but it is a setup. Silian executes a man who informed on him and Vrinks is now compromised. He decides to say nothing and act on the tipoff.about where the armoured car criminals are staying. It appears Vrinks has a flaw, ambition, himself. A raid is planned. It goes badly and fatally wrong when Klein reveals himself to the criminals and a gunfight ensues. Vrinks is in disgrace, held responsible for the death of a colleague and for covering up the execution by Silian. He is charged for his actions and found guilty.

Eight years later, Vrinks is out of prison. His wife is dead, killed in a botched intercept of Silian by Klein. Klein is now in charge and is intent on covering his tracks. Vrinks is intent on revealing Klein as the killer of his wife. With few friends left this will be a hard job and will run against all the principles he learnt as a policemen.

In a film full of good actors two stand out. Gerard Depardieu is perfect as Klein, getting deeper into the murk of a dishonest cop. Olivier Marchal plays Vrinks with a grim determination that suits the character.

On its release in 2004 the film was nominated for nine Cesar Awards (France’s equivalent of the Oscars). Most of these were for Best Actor and the supporting roles. This is quite an accolade considering the quality of French drama.

The DVD has a number of extras from the usual “The Making Of …” to selection of weapons for the film.

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