Operation Leopard

La légion saute sur Kolwezi, also known as Operation Leopard, is a French war film directed by Raoul Coutard and filmed in French Guiana. The script is based on the true story of the Battle of Kolwezi that happened in 1978. It was diligently described in a book of the same name[1] by former 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment Captain Pierre Sergent.[2] He published his book in 1979, and the film came out in 1980. Coutard shot the film in a documentary style.

La légion saute sur Kolwezi
Original film poster
Directed byRaoul Coutard
Produced byGérard Beytout
Georges de Beauregard
Written byAndré-Georges Brunelin
Based onLa légion saute sur Kolwezi
by Pierre Sergent
StarringBruno Cremer
Mimsy Farmer
Giuliano Gemma
Music bySerge Franklin
CinematographyGeorges Liron
Edited byMichel Lewin
Distributed byBELA – FR3
Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC)
Release date
  • 1 September 1980 (1980-09-01) (France)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Synopsis

The film is based on true events. In 1978, approximately 3,000 heavily armed fighters from Katanga crossed the border to the Democratic Republic of Congo and marched into Kolwezi, a mining centre for copper and cobalt. They took 3,000 civilians as hostages. Within a few days, between 90 and 280 hostages were killed. The rebels appeared to be unpredictable and are reported to have threatened to annihilate all civilians. Mobutu, Congo's head of state, urged Belgium, France and the United States to help. France sent the Foreign Legion's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, which were flown from Corsica to Kolwezi. Following their arrival, they secured the perimeter, in co-operation with Belgian soldiers from Zaire, and then started to evacuate the civilians. Within two days more than 2,000 Europeans and about 3,000 African citizens were saved. The film strives to depict the events in a dramatised form, concentrating on the Europeans' plight.

Production

The late Jean Seberg had filmed scenes on location for the film, but her death caused her to be replaced by another American actress, Mimsy Farmer, who reshot Seberg's scenes.[3]

Cast

References
  1. SERGENT Pierre, La légion saute sur Kolwezi : opération léopard, Presses de la Cité, Paris, 1979, Collection Troupes de choc (n° 17), 240 p., 24x15x2 cm, ISBN 2-258-00426-8
  2. Johnson, Douglas (17 September 1992). "Obituary: Pierre Sergent". The Independent. London.
  3. "La légion saute sur Kolwezi (The Legion Parachutes into Kolwezi also known as Operation Leopard) was the film Jean was working on at the time of her death. She had scenes filmed in Africa and returned to Paris for additional work in September. After her death, the scenes were reshot with actress Mimsy Farmer and Jean's performance on the film were not destroyed, but locked away without the public ever viewing the footage". Retrieved 21 January 2012.

This article incorporates information from the French Wikipedia.

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