on the cover of the dvd it say michael caine produce a great performance and one of our great character actor ( nuts magazine and no less ) . be they joke . he be rubbish . caine be awful and show just how wooden an actor he really be . he can not even do a french accent . the film be full of some fairly decent british actor frank finlay and alan bates and tilda swinton and charlotte rampling ( the only french speak one and presumably ) yet it come over like a shoddy make for tv daytime movie . statement be surely the howard way of political thriller . perhaps norman jewison be peter mayle ( a year in provence ) to the emile zola that be frederick forsyth . the entire cast seem to be simply enjoy make a film in france ( each different part of the country amateurishly caption ) and let down by a dreadful script . presumably and norman jewison never study the day of the jackal and where frederick forsyth and kenneth ross ( screenwriter ) show how it be do and and all on a small budget . indeed and you could have do a lot more with this film and mitterrand play the de gaulle character and a a powerful leader hide a hidden vichy past . this be something touch on in the excellent recent film le promeneur du champ de mar ( 2005 ) . the funny thing be and you actually start empathasing for pierre brossard ( michael caine ) and the klaus barbie style war criminal of southern and vichy france and and hope that he escape whenever he nearly get catch . even his killing of the assassin at the beginning of the film be genuinely self defence and and brossard seem genuinely full of remorse and religious guilt for his war time crime . the other factor be the amateurish political corruption plotting and where we never know who the real people be chase brossard be they mossad style vengers or agent of powerful political figure and successful but taint by their war time activity in vichy france .