I can recommend this little war thriller which has brains and heart behind it. Within the broad theatre of war it focuses on the moral impact of "orders" on a sensitive personality. Production values are good within the scope of the film and there are plenty of clues about the developing issue. We start to have reservations about the main character, who is clearly immature and not suited to the mission he is sent on. His behaviour is inept, but it is not hard to relate to his dilemma. The denouement winds up the story gracefully without weakening the horror of what has occurred, and in a way that the viewer does not expect, dignity is restored to the hero. I had not previously encountered the lead actor who is a little-known Canadian actor. I dislike the way he looks in this, with a neatly combed 1950s blonde quiff on which a ridiculously small beret is perched. He looks about as "French" as a bacon burger. But in a way that fits in with his feeble performance in the role of assassin. The film never goes into an examination of who was responsible for the false intelligence behind the mission. That is where the blame for the fiasco rests. But no doubt this sort of thing occurred and the people in the field never got to find out who was the author of the blunder.
Review of Orders to Kill
