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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 15 May 2008

Camden cinema | Pick of the Indies | Brunswick Centre | Terror's Advocate | Documentary about lawyer Jacques Vergès

JACQUES Vergès has always been an enigma: dubbed the “terror’s advocate” for working as the lawyer for violent terrorists and revolutionaries, the myths that surround the man mean it is hard to form a clear-headed judgment about his life’s work.
Now in his 80s, the lawyer who has made it his career to defend the most unpopular causes is the subject of an insightful documentary discussing his work.
Vergès’s case book reads like a who’s who of vile killers: Nazi murderer Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon who in 1987 was tried for his despicable war crimes, employed him as his brief. Saddam Hussein got the benefit of his legal advice, as did the Belgrade dictator Slobodan Milosevic and the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal.
Terror’s Advocate is now the title of a film which charts his career. It allows the viewer to consider whether defending such tyrants and killers, and ensuring they have a fair trial, is the mark of a man with no morals or a person whose principles are so sound that to make sure victims see justice done, the accused have a robust defence to make sure the truth comes out.
Film-maker Barbet Schroeder weaves a fascinating story from the back streets of Algiers, where during the colonial war Vergès backed the North Africans over France and defended Djamila Bouhired, an Algerian who planted bombs in cafés. He got her death sentence commuted and eventually married her, having two children.
It also covers his time in the 1970s when he left his high profile life behind him and disappeared for nearly a decade.
This film considers extremism of all hues in the mid and late 20th century. Well shot with carefully sourced footage and interviews, regardless of your views of the man, it is a fascinating documentary and works well on the big screen.
DAN CARRIER
• Terror’s Advocate opens at the Renoir Cinema in The Brunswick Centre, tomorrow (Friday).
0871 703 3991

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