‘Un homme a abattre‘ (the English distribution title is ‘A Man to Kill‘) is an unjustly forgotten film made in 1967 that deserves to be rediscovered. Its director is Philippe Condroyer, a director who has only three feature films in his filmography. He had debuted in 1964 with an adaptation of one of the adventures of the popular cartoon character Tintin. This movie followed, and then another one in the 70s and … that was it. The rest of his career was spent on television sets. Watching ‘Un homme a abattre‘ I wonder why. The film has many qualities and the hand of a director who masters well his craft is evident.
The story takes place in Barcelona (the film is a Franco-Spanish co-production) before democracy and the tourist boom that turned the city into one of the chic centers of the Mediterranean. On the contrary, the city it is filmed as a rather ugly place, with deserted streets, with neighborhoods devoid of personality. The cinematography belongs to Jean Penzer, a well-known Nouvelle Vague cameraman associated with many experiments. Against this background, the violent confrontation of two groups takes place. One of them is hunting Nazi war criminals. We are only a quarter of a century after the Second World War. Their target is Schmidt, an architect suspected of being a former SS officer guilty of torture and murder during the war. He is supported by a network of ex-Nazis who are trying to escape justice in the hope that the passage of time will lead to the statute of limitations for the crimes that were committed. The four members of the team chasing Schmidt are led by Julius, the brother of one of the victims, himself a survivor. The problem is that he is not sure of Schmidt’s identity and does not want to take revenge on an innocent. The surveillance is run against the clock, as the anti-Nazi team had been forced to liquidate one of the opposing gang members. When the identity of the war criminal is finally confirmed, the action – slow and building tension – accelerates.
Some details of the action are left unclear, and that’s fine. We don’t even know exactly who the justice seekers are. Undercover cops or law enforcement, or maybe it’s a private vendetta? The Nazi gang also has its secrets, and the final scene hints that Schmidt may not be the main killer either, or at least not the only one. The most famous actor in the cast is Jean-Louis Trintignant. His character also has a romantic affair not really related to the rest of the conflict. At one point I thought that the beautiful Olga would be involved in solving the problem of Schmidt’s identity. It might have been a good idea, but one that was not applied in the script written by Condroyer and his wife. But precisely the lack of biographical details of the characters strengthens the atmosphere of mystery. ‘Un homme a abattre‘ is a thriller made in a minimalist style, which suits the story very well. The influence of Hitchcock (the one from the spy films of the 50s and 60s) is evident, especially in one of the key scenes (finely directed by the way) in which Julius searches Schmidt’s apartment. I liked the film and I can only regret that Philippe Condroyer didn’t have the chance to make more movies like this and we didn’t get the chance to see them.