Article written for the Examiner
The Assault is a heart-pumping, terrifying ride based on a 48-hour hijacking by Islamic terrorists. Writers Simon Moutairou and Julien Leclercq (director) take you on the claustrophobic, harrowing experience for 227 passengers aboard Air France flight 8969 on Christmas Eve, 1994.
Vincent Elbaz steams up the screen as Thierry, a conflicted French SWAT officer, husband, and father. On the opposite side—played with equal intensity by actor Aymen Saïdi—
is Yahia, the leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). Mélanie Bernier plays Carole, a female French National Gendarme of the counter-terrorism military. Carole fights to save the day in a testosterone-filled world where she’s not taken seriously but determined to be heard.
The screenplay is based on the book by Roland Martins about the hijacking, which was televised in real time to an audience of 21 million TV viewers. The film is a knot-in-your-stomach, suspense drama depicting the flight from Algiers to Paris during which Jihadists with an ill-conceived plan panicked, drew guns, and announced their intentions way too soon.
Their bumbling set off a gruesome comedy-of-escalating-errors. Despite the extremists’ demands, the plane could not take off with the stair ramp still attached but because the plane was under siege, no airport workers would go near the tarmac to move the steps. Ignoring Carole’s warnings, the French took the stance that they wouldn’t negotiate with terrorists, so the plane stayed stuck on the Algerian runway. The infuriated, inept hijackers began executing people.
The flight finally took off but without enough fuel which necessitated an emergency stop in Marseilles where workers there wouldn’t come near the plane. Once again, all aboard are stuck on a runway. Some of the most chilling scenes are of the Muslim hijackers praying over the Qur’an for success in their terrorist mission. They praised Allah and promised to free their fellow Jihadists from prison. The French SWAT assault team was ordered to charge in. What ensued was a chaotic hail of bullets and loss of lives.
The acting is superb, the tsunami-like pace is exhilarating yet it will be unavoidable for Americans to view this film without wishing the 9/11 terrorists had been equally inept—we might still have our World Trade Towers and thousands of innocent people would not have died.
View trailer
Opens April 6, 2012 at City Cinemas Village East, 181–189 2nd Avenue, NYC. Running time: 95 minutes. French with English subtitles. Rated R. 3 stars.
