The scene lasts only a few minutes, at the very beginning of the work. We guess a cold night, the icy water and the panic of the brave soldiers of the Saint-Cyr school. These few shots that open the film For France will be the only ones who will show Jallal Hami in the lair of the Morbihan military school. Renowned for training officers of the French army, the institution had been the scene of a tragedy on Monday, October 29, 2012 when Jallal Hami had drowned during a night of “bahutage”, a military term qualifying a hazing. Eleven years after the death of his brother, director Rachid Hami is releasing his second feature film on Wednesday, inspired by the tragedy experienced by his family. A touching film without hatred, as its author wanted. “I make it a point of honor to respect the difference between the work and reality. I made a story based on real events, but it’s a romantic film. We are not in a film of settling scores, ”explains Rachid Hami.
The director had however used very harsh words after the trial of seven soldiers which took place in 2020 before the criminal court of Rennes, judging the sanctions “ridiculous”. Two students and an officer had been found responsible for the death of the young soldier and sentenced to six-month suspended prison sentences. Sentences that had not been entered in their criminal records, so as not to compromise the rest of their careers. The other four defendants had been released. Despite this verdict deemed “inaudible” by his family, the director preferred to opt for a sensitive work without dwelling on the Saint-Cyr school. “I have nothing against the institution. I hold a grudge against the individuals who caused my brother’s death. They knew there was a risk of death because after the first group passed, they stopped, they talked. They said: “it’s dangerous but we continue”. It is an inhuman sadism. My brother’s death is indelible but their sorrows are not. »
The idea for the film came before the death
Anger clearly did not guide this story of almost two hours, which takes the viewer on a journey between the family’s youth in Algeria, the difficult organization of funerals with the French army and a stay in Taipei (capital of Taiwan) where Jallal Hami had studied before going to Saint-Cyr. “It was when I came back from Taipei that I had the idea of making a film. I think that’s where we became brothers. At that moment, I wanted to tell this story, it was unprecedented to see two brothers from immigrant backgrounds meeting there. »
To interpret the role of his brilliant little brother, the director chose Shaïn Boumedine, already seen in Mektoub, My Love by Abdellatif Kechiche. A glowing portrait in the image of the promising career that was to be written for the cadet. A graduate of Sciences-Po, Jallal Hami had joined Saint-Cyr “for France”. A brilliant student, he complained about the “transmission of traditions” activities organized by the so-called second years to integrate them. During a night workshop organized in water at 9 degrees, the cadet had drowned, without anyone noticing. His body was not found until several hours later.
In the film, the French army is scratched by its inability to pay a worthy tribute to a soldier who did not fall in operation. But without ever falling into criticism of the institution. “It was never about anything other than cinema. I was very impressed by Rachid’s way of being anti-cliché. On the military institution, we see a lot of incriminating films. Here, we qualify. Rachid zoomed in on his own story to make it a powerful work on a family odyssey,” says Karim Leklou, who plays the role of Rachid Hami in the film. As for the trial, it is absolutely not addressed in the work. ” This is an other story. It will be another film, ”slips the director.