Stylish but barely mediocre overall

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The French war in Indochina is a fantastic subject, and has been beautifully illustrated by Schoendorffer in his film, the 317 ème Section. There is no war film like the 317 ème and there will never be...but there are many other aspects of this conflict that could be explored such as the clash of political ideologies, the Corsican and Vietnamese Mafia in Indochina, American policies during the war, RC 4, Lang-Son, Vietnamese Catholics, the Emperor, etc. The strength of SOLDAT BLANC is that it tells the story of a Frenchman who becomes a Viet-Minh Commissaire Politique and the notions of treason and loyalty (to a flag, to ideas?), but the film's format is not right: too long for a film, too short for a series and therefore the story lines remain purely schematic, and underdeveloped. A great subject somehow marred by indecision in filmmaking...still a good film to watch.

Pierre Schoendoerffer would have loved this film, I am sure of this. Or at least, this would have been a topic for him. As far as I know, no one except him has talked about french war in Indochina better than him. OK, there was also Claude Bernard Aubert, but in a lesser scale. The events told here have actually occurred. The tale of an idealistic young soldier who finally fought with the Vietminh against his own initial brothers of arms. Young soldier who became a sort of traitor. This movie is played by nearly unknown actors, and the characterization is very effective, outstanding.There is a terrific scene in this feature: the one when a young soldier asks his officer the permission to kill a prisoner, ONLY because he had not killed anyone yet in his life. And he wanted to taste it, get the true feeling to kill, to execute, like wasting a dog. An absolute ordinary young soldier like you and me. Not the natural the born killer that you might expect in such a film. A Young trooper with the school teacher face with his little glasses.Terrific, because so realistic. The true horror of war. No heroism here. The very ending is rather abrupt, maybe too much. But Eric Zonca gives here his best work ever.