Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary reviews an investigation of a crime. Stephane and Fabrice have confessed to the murder of Mustapha, a contemporary who is known to be a drug abuser and bully. They split responsibility for the crime and it is up to the magistrate to determine the true facts behind the case. The film is primarily composed of the magistrate's interviews over a period of several months trying to get at the truth before sending the case to trial. Viewers are able to watch the magistrate trip up Fabrice and Stephane and hear variations on the story as the investigation continues. They are able to listen to a witness to the crime add more details to the story and also see a reconstruction of the crime that adds even more information. Ultimately the search for the truth becomes harder and harder as the magistrate gets deeper and deeper into the investigation.

Indictment is shot so that viewers see the magistrate; it is as if we are not supposed to be able to see the other participant's faces as they are supposed to be protected from view. This makes for an extremely boring film. It might have been more interesting to meet some of the other participants including the parents of the accused and the victim in another place instead of during the interview process. Also it would be interesting to hear from the psychiatrist in the case especially as the emotional status of Fabrice becomes an important point within the case.

Also as the film is in French viewers will spend most of their time reading the subtitles and less looking at the nuances of the characters and trying to determine if they are telling the truth, something that is even harder when you can't see their faces. It would have also been useful to see more of the evidence and to see what the thought process of the magistrate is. All we see are the magistrate's interviews with the various participants in the investigation.

This is an extremely disappointing film that may be of interest to classes studying the French criminal justice system but would be of limited use for other criminal justice or law classes.