Long before his association with the National Front and other far-right causes, Alain Delon played a sympathetic right-wing terrorist. The Unvanquished (1964) (also known as Have I the Right to Kill?) is a moody thriller set in the waning days of France's Algerian War. It's entertaining enough, even if its perspective's as interesting as its plot.Foreign Legionnaire Thomas Vlassenroot (Alain Delon) desserts during the failed General's Putsch against De Gaulle in April 1961 and joins the OAS. His old commanding officer (Georges Geret) hires him to kidnap Dominique Servet (Lea Massari), a liberal lawyer representing Algerian terrorists. Thomas learns that Servet's clients have been framed by pied noir killers, and helps her escape. Pursued both by the OAS and French authorities, they try to reach Vlassenroot's home in Luxembourg.
The Unvanquished benefits from a tightly-constructed plot, with director Alain Clavier emphasizing stylish sparseness. The movie has striking noirish smoke-and-shadows photography by Claude Renoir, with long, leisurely scenes playing without musical accompaniment. Aside from an opening battle, the violence occurs in staccato bursts rather than elaborate action, allowing focus on Thomas's torment. The movie does slip into sentimentality near the end, with Thomas and Dominique going to bed and Thomas returning to his family apiary for a treacly finale.
Produced by Delon, The Unvanquished captures French disillusionment after the long, divisive Algerian experience, which threw the country near civil war. Thomas desserts after seeing one fruitless battle too many, yet neither is he committed to the OAS's terrorism. He's forced into killing a colleague (Robert Castel) whom he dismisses as a "fanatic," yet is too chivalrous to murder his old Lieutenant. Pricked by his conscience over an abandoned daughter and a festering bullet wound, he becomes a man without a country, unwanted by his reactionary colleagues or his adopted nation.
Alain Delon plays his usual stoic hero with uncharacteristic depth and guilt, giving a memorable characterization. Lea Massari plays with forceful dignity until the plot makes her into a weak love interest. Georges Geret's grave dignity contrasts nicely with Robert Castel's trigger-happy murderousness. Maurice Garrel plays Dominique's hapless husband, unwittingly caught in their escape.
French audiences didn't cotton to The Unvanquished, which gave Delon one of his first flops. Memories of Algeria were too fresh for it to succeed; its disillusioned, morally compromised protagonist surely didn't help. It's much easier to watch today, even if it's odd to find yourself rooting for a reluctant fascist.
