Terrors Advocate

Star Review

With clients including Carlos the Jackal, Slobodan Milosevitch and Klaus Barbie, Jaques Verges made his career as defence lawyer du jour to dictators, terrorists and war criminals the world over. In his meticulously researched documentary about Verges’ life and work, director Barbet Schroeder evokes a time when terrorists were Che Guevara chic, plane hijackings were as commonplace as student sit-ins, and suspects could look forward to celebrity lawyers, not 42 days detention.


Verges cut his teeth in Algeria defending Djamila Bouhired, the striking freedom fighter/fanatic fatale who carried out the Milk Bar bombing depicted in Pontecorvo's Battle for Algiers (1966); the pair later married. But how did a former Free French soldier end up defending a Nazi like Klaus Barbie? Devil's Advocate offers two answers: the first is Verges' lifelong opposition to colonialism; defending Barbie, Verges drew comparisons between the German occupation of Lyons with the French rule in Algiers. The second is the aphrodisiac quality of terror itself which Verges is clearly drawn to and - even at 83 - still exudes.


In Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1974) director Barbet Schroeder gave the director enough rope to hang himself with; Devil's Advocate gives Verger similar latitude, but the effect is more nuanced, partly because of the man’s undeniable charm.
“I’d even defend Bush,” Verges smiles. “But only if he agrees to plead guilty.”

Milo Wakelin on 4th August 2008
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Film Description

Documentary profile of the controversial French lawyer Jacques Verges. Director Barbet Schroeder attempts to shed some light on the moral convictions of the enigmatic lawyer and and former Free French Forces guerrilla, who over a long career, has defended terrorists of all kinds, from Algerian separatists, one of whom he married after gaining her release, to Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy and Carlos the Jackal.

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DVD Extras

• Interviews: Barbet Schroeder (Director)

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